Hello! This is Meguru Ito, the advisor of the Design & Fabrication Club. This time, I'd like to introduce a special project we did as part of our club activities called ICT-Collection 2025 Summer.

 At the Hakusanroku Campus, we have a fascinating machine called a garment printer, which allows us to print directly onto items made from fabric, like T-shirts and tote bags. When students said, “We want to make all kinds of things!” I decided to organize an event where they could design and print their own original T-shirts using the garment printer. As summer gets hotter, I thought it’d be fun to make a unique T-shirt that could make school life and summer break even more enjoyable.

 I set a few design rules to guide the creative process:
・Designs must be original (photos, illustrations, logos, etc.)
・No photos or illustrations created by others
・No AI-generated artwork
・Must include either the school or club logo.
These rules are meant to help students develop their creativity and apply the skills they've learned in class and through extracurricular activities. The final T-shirts turned out to be incredibly cool and full of personality! Check out the video to see them in action.

 I’d like to share the unique themes and sources of inspiration that each student used in their design. Here are some comments from the students.

Akira Azuma, a 1st year
While I was playing a game where I operated a tank, I thought it would look cool to put a tank on a T-shirt. That’s how I came up with this design. The tank printed on the shirt is the M1A1 Abrams, the main battle tank of the United States.

Haru Abe, a 1st year
I used my skills in Minecraft to design a magical castle under the summer night sky.

So Kajita, a 1st year
I drew a Reuleaux triangle（ルーローの三角形）. The name “Reuleaux triangle” mixes foreign letters and kanji, and when I was in elementary school, I loved the feeling of knowing something that no one else did — that’s why I became fond of this unique shape.

Sotaro Kato, a 1st year
I created this illustration inspired by the ICT students.

Reika Kubo, a 1st year
Lately, chemistry has become my favorite subject, so I created an illustration inspired by a test tube experiment!

Touna Konno, a 1st year
I personally like how I combined the contrasting elements of mountains and the sea into a single illustration.

Reo Sakai, a 1st year
To express the spirit of ICT, I used multiple languages and an image of the Earth.

Taiki Sasaki, a 1st year
I played the clarinet in the school band during junior high, so I chose this design to reflect that memory.

Akira Terashima, a 1st year
Due to a mistake in the cart's dimensions, this image now serves as its memorial.

Kotaro Higuchi, a 1st year
I wanted to create a beautiful design, so I chose butterflies and roses.

Purba Anthony Revatta, a 1st year
I made this because it was inspired by my Roblox avatar which is a hamster. I also wrote "I need fuud" because hamsters like food.

Hinata Miyazaki, a 1st year
While looking back on my memories of ICT, I added illustrations to photos taken around the ICT area.

Hiroki Yatsuo, a 1st year
I gave the letters 'ICT' a summer vibe.

Soma Ioroi, a 2nd year
I made a delicious-looking steak.

Kaishu Ishiharada, a 2nd year
This design reflects my intention to avoid short-circuiting the circuit.

Ayane Ito, a 2nd year
I fell in love with Tecpatl at the Ancient Mexico Exhibition, and turned it into a cute character design!

Shuntaro Tanaka, a 2nd year
I drew my favorite lathe in a stylish way, using perspective to give it depth and dimension.

Shuntaro Tanaka, a 2nd year
I photographed my painting that was created for an exhibition themed "Deep Sea" at the Platinum Festival, and edited the image to create this T-shirt.

Ikki Hashimoto, a 2nd year
Recently, I've developed a personal routine that brings a strong sense of fulfillment to my daily life, so I created this with the intention of continuing that lifestyle.

　
Chihiro Fukumoto, a 2nd year
I was inspired by the Galatic Empire emblem from my favorite movie, Star Wars, when I drew this. I reimagined the emblem in an ICT style.

Kotori Mae, a 2nd year
I was inspired by summer, so I designed the back with a manga style watermelon splitting theme!

Meguru Ito

Hello. I'm Rinse Okiyama, a 3rd year student at the International College of Technology, Kanazawa. I'm currently studying abroad in New Zealand. Here in Dunedin, the weather is gradually warming up as spring approaches. Since arriving, I've been learning a lot every day through language study and cultural exchange. Living in a different environment isn’t easy, but it's full of new discoveries, and I can truly feel myself growing each day.

While people in Japan were diving into the sea, I was diving into the snow on the ski slopes of New Zealand. My friends and I took a bus and rode for an hour. Outside the window, lush green hills and flocks of sheep stretched out before us, revealing one beautiful scene after another—views unlike anything we’re used to seeing in Japan. Dunedin, where we live, is a suburban area, so we don’t often see farms, making the scenery feel refreshing.

We arrived in Roxburgh and had lunch at “Jimmy’s Pies,” famous for their meat pies. Next, we headed to “Puzzling World,” a mysterious space where you can enjoy a maze and optical illusion art. We got completely lost in the maze, feeling like little kids again. It was quite a challenge, and we ended up walking around for hours, but we finally made it to the end.

After checking into our accommodation in Wanaka, I took a walk with my friends to a nearby lake. Along the way, we discovered a stylish café and enjoyed some ice cream. After exploring the town on the first day, we returned to the lodge and enjoyed a warm dinner that our teachers had prepared for us.

The next day, we left our lodge early in the morning and took a bus to the ski fields, enjoying the sunrise along the way. Whether it was the driver’s rough style or the poor road conditions, the ride was bumpy the entire time. When we arrived, I was worried because there didn’t seem to be much snow, but the ski slopes were actually well-covered. Since I had just skied at Hakusan earlier this year, I got used to it quickly and had a great time.

Japanese ski resorts are known for their convenience, with abundant hot springs and lodging facilities. In contrast, New Zealand’s major advantage was the chance to experience the grandeur of nature itself. The scenery was totally different, featuring numerous courses with exposed rock faces, vast treeless slopes, and majestic mountain ranges stretching across the landscape.

At night, I went to a restaurant and took a walk around the lodge with my friends. Later, back at the lodge, we all gathered together as if we were back in the dormitory at Hakusanroku Campus and played a quiz game. It felt like those nostalgic and fun times were back again.

The third day was all about activities. Arriving in Queenstown, we took a gondola to the summit and looked down on the town. The view of the blue lake and surrounding mountains was stunning in its beauty. After that, we tried the Luge, a thrilling activity where you race down a steep slope at full speed. We all enjoyed it.

For lunch, we bought the tastiest burgers, known as “Fergburger.” Unfortunately, our schedule was packed, so we didn’t have time for sightseeing. At the final destination of our trip, three classmates challenged themselves to bungee jump. After jumping, they looked proud and relieved, having overcome their nerves. After that, we headed back to Dunedin, and the fulfilling three-day trip finally came to an end.

This ski trip was a valuable opportunity to deepen bonds with my friends and experience the differences in nature and culture firsthand. I want to continue challenging myself in various ways and make my study abroad life even more fulfilling.

Rinse Okiyama

 Hello, this is Arihiro Kodaka, and I am in charge of Engineering Design II for 2nd year students. At ICT, we place great importance on practical learning in collaboration with the local community. In Engineering Design II, students tackle agricultural challenges faced by the region and explore solutions from both technological and business perspectives. The Tech Team provides technical support for wildlife damage prevention to protect sweet potatoes, while the Business Team works to revitalize the community by marketing the protected sweet potatoes as a local brand product.

 In this class, students are expected to accurately understand the current situation, identify new approaches to revitalizing the local community, and establish clear design objectives to realize those ideas. To achieve this, it is essential for them to gain a multifaceted understanding of the significance and impact of cultivating crops in this region, as well as the resources and effort required. As a first step, the entire class participated in creating ridges in the field, planting sweet potatoes, and installing electric fences to prevent wildlife damage.

Please also refer to the Hakusanroku Journal written by President Maasaki Shikada,
“2nd Year Engineering Design: Beniharuka Sweet Potato Planting (May 26th, 2025)"

 Although it was already mid-April this year, more than 50cm of snow remained in the field, and the temperatures were still low, making it difficult to plant the seedlings. However, thanks to a miraculous period of continuous rain, the snow melted just in time for the scheduled delivery of the seedlings, allowing us to proceed with planting. However, the temperatures this spring were in the low 10℃, which was quite cold and not ideal for root development or growth. The seedlings didn’t look very healthy, and I was worried. Fortunately, in May, the temperatures finally started to rise, and I was relieved to see the seedlings beginning to grow.

 Even after the seedlings had taken root, we continued to monitor their condition. This year, I noticed that some seedlings had been pulled out. Upon researching online, we found reports indicating that newly planted seedlings can be an easy target for crows, which may be what happened in our field as well. Additionally, we observed that the electric fence had become loose due to the wire mesh getting caught on the binding wire used to secure it to the poles. Next year, we plan to install a camera to closely monitor what happens in the field after planting. We will be selling sweet potatoes again this year, so please enjoy our exceptionally sweet Kosen Beniharuka!

Arihiro Kodaka

 Summer is here, and with it comes the season of insects. Even in winter, we encounter stink bugs on the Hakusanroku Campus, but summer insects are truly in a class of their own, aren’t they?
 Hello, this is Tsutsui. At the end of June, I joined an after-school activity for Hakurei elementary school students organized by the local community center, together with students from ICT students.

 On a Wednesday afternoon after third period classes ended, four students—Madoka Nakazawa (2nd year), Kai Osawa (1st year), Reo Sakai (1st year), and Kotaro Higuchi (1st year)—visited a forest behind a nearby elementary and junior high school, just a three-minute drive from Hakusanroku Campus to enjoy insect catching with local children. Kai even brought his own insect net!
 When we arrived, the younger Hakurei students were already energetically catching insects, and the forest was filled with lively voices. Later, older grades hakurei students joined in, and the forest became even more vibrant as everyone began catching insects together.
 When you think of “insect catching,” you might imagine chasing butterflies and dragonflies with a net, or catching cicadas, beetles, grasshoppers, and crickets. However, the younger hakurei students were finding tiny insects quietly hiding on leaves and branches. They would point and say, “Here it is!”—but the insects were so small and blended in with the leaves that I couldn’t see them, especially with my aging eyes. The Hakurei students skillfully used a tool, which has a capsule at the end of a pair of tweezers, to catch them quickly and easily.
 Perhaps because it was early summer, the insects were still in the process of growing. But to the hakurei students, even the tiniest insect was a real “bug.” Their excited cheers and sparkling eyes when they found one were truly memorable. 
 That day, the hakurei students caught not only tiny insects, but also grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, ladybugs, pill bugs, stick insects—and even a frog! 

 The ICT students enjoyed interacting with the hakurei students in their own unique ways. The sky and forest they usually see from campus must have looked quite different that day.
 Although Hakusanroku Campus is surrounded by nature, students mostly study indoors during the week, and don’t often have opportunities to interact with the local community or nature. Moreover, due to limited transportation options, it’s not easy to explore the area on weekends. 
 This short experience gave the ICT students a chance to feel like part of the local community and to truly connect with nature. 
 I wonder if those tiny insects have grown bigger… Maybe now, even I could spot them.

 Three months have passed since we went bug catching. I wonder if those tiny insects have grown... Maybe now, even I could see them with my own eyes.

Tsutsui Masako

About 350 years ago, on July 13th, the famous poet Matsuo Basho wrote the haiku:
“How still it is here—
Stinging into the stones,
The locusts' trill.”

But according to the news this year, because of global warming, people in many places said that cicadas did not sing even after July began. Now, one month later, Japan is still in the grip of a very hot summer, I believe. How are you all doing? From the other side of the Earth, I am Rintaro Kamoshita, a 3rd year student at International College of Technology, Kanazawa.
Our life in New Zealand is very different—almost the exact opposite—from the summer in Japan. Every day we burn firewood in the fireplace to fight the cold. Today, I would like to tell you about my “unusual daily life” here in New Zealand, especially as the person who is sometimes called the “subculture manager” of our school.

First, I know you may not be the same, but for me, a day usually begins with solving a math problem, and ends with solving another math problem. When I was in Japan, at ICT, I did not have much time for such study, because I was busy with Robot Contest preparation and with many assignments. Only on holidays could I do math freely. However, after coming to New Zealand, my life changed a lot. Simply put, I gained “more than 24 hours of free time in one day.” Because of this, I could make a new style: at night, I study math for two or three hours and choose one problem, and then I try solving that problem the next morning. Thanks to this, I now have a lot more time to think about math in my daily life here.

On holidays, I often go to Otago Polytechnic. There, I write a math problem and its process of solution on a whiteboard, and leave it there before going home. It was like creating a secret code that only those who love math could understand—much like the one in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Dancing Men. Recently, one math teacher saw my problem and we were able to talk about it. Some people say that “math is a language.” I felt that it was really true, because at that moment, we crossed the boundary of ordinary communication by using the language of math.

But since I am supposed to talk about subculture, I should now speak about my “card game life” in Dunedin. First, let me tell you something surprising: in New Zealand, there are no shops that sell single cards. You may think “so what?” but for card gamers, this is almost like a death sentence. What is worse, in Dunedin, there is only one card shop in the whole city. Because of this, I had to spend three months without playing card games. This was maybe the first time since I was five years old.

However, in mid-July, something changed. One Saturday, I went skating with my friends at the southern ice rink. On the way back, I found a card shop, because I saw a sign with a very famous Japanese character. I went inside and looked at the card products. Then the shop owner talked to me, and told me that every Sunday they have a tournament. The next day, I joined the tournament with my friend, and I had my first international card game exchange.

There, I found something surprising. In general, New Zealand people are very free, and their way of thinking is different from Japanese people. But in the card game community, everything was almost exactly the same as in Japan. For example, if someone used a very strong deck, other players did not like it. And if someone was very unlucky and already almost losing, other players tried not to attack too hard. On the internet, I often saw people saying “foreign players act just like Japanese ones.” I found out that this was true.

Now, I want to finish my journal with a message to the students in the Hakusanroku Campus, and also to junior high school students who are thinking of entering our school. What I want to say is this: English ability is not the most important thing. …Okay, maybe I exaggerated. What I really mean is: communication ability matters much more.

I don’t play popular games, or popular sports. Also, I do not enjoy speaking with young people very much. In other words, I have some serious handicaps. But even so, I can still “fight,” thanks to two things I learned in Japan: the skill of talking with teachers, and the skill of talking through card games. These two skills have a special power: they automatically create a moment when the other person listens to me. So I recommend that you also make a strategy about how to communicate in English before you come to New Zealand.

For example, I live in a homestay with a Japanese family, so in daily life I do not use much English. But still, compared with other students, the amount of English I touch is not any less. That is, I can say I won by strategy. Dunedin is truly a wonderful place. So I hope you can make it not a place of suffering and homesickness, but a place of your own growth.

P.S. Actually, I am from Shinshu, so I wanted to start with Kobayashi Issa, not with Matsuo Basho.

Rintaro Kamoshita