Hello, I am Takako Utsunomiya, the teacher overseeing the Ikebana club. At the Kanazawa Campus, where the 4th- and 5th-year students study, we offer an extracurricular Ikebana activity. The participating students receive instruction twice a month from Ms. Howa Minamikawa, a member of the Eighth Division of the Sogetsu School’s Ishikawa Branch. This year, four students—three from the 4th year and one from the 5th year—are taking part in the club.

As we begin our Ikebana activities for the second semester, I would like to reflect on what our 4th- and 5th-year students accomplished during the first semester and highlight their involvement in the club.

[May]
The fourth‑year students used the flower shears with surprising skill for beginners, and Ms. Minamikawa (Ikebana instructor) even complimented their work. Their faces were full of concentration as they planned their designs. The fifth‑year student quietly focused on his own arrangement while warmly welcoming the younger members.

[June]
One student quietly focused on her flowers, others asked the teacher for advice, and still another enjoyed lively conversation with classmates as she decided on her designs. There were many different paths to creating a piece, each one unique to the student.

[July ①]
The sunflower’s head was simply too heavy. Even so, driven by the desire to make it face upward, the student kept trying different ideas. Did you notice the toothpick quietly supporting it in the photo? That small touch speaks volumes about her dedication to the piece.

[July ②]
Ms. Minamikawa, our Ikebana instructor, is also a certified Urasenke tea ceremony teacher. She kindly arranged an opportunity for the 4th- and 5th-year students to experience the tea ceremony, and we were served higashi sweets from “Yoshihashi” in Higashiyama, Kanazawa.

[July ③]
Students’ Ikebana works are displayed in various locations, including the president’s office, the main entrance of the ICT, and the space beneath the staircase. Recently, the students have started to concentrate on their own display sites.

[October]
The 4th- and 5th-year students have been given the opportunity to participate in the Sogetsu 100th Anniversary Ikebana Exhibition, “Creating Together, Connecting to the Future,” and to showcase their work in the Mirai Corner.
(Our sincere thanks to everyone at the Sogetsu Ikebana Association, Ishikawa Branch.)
The exhibition will be held from October 10 (Sat.) to 12 (Mon.) at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Basement Level 1, People’s Gallery B. If you happen to be in the area, we would be delighted if you could stop by and take a look at the students’ work.
https://www.sogetsu.or.jp/events/local/816652/

Ikebana Club
Takako Utsunomiya

　This is Apirak Sang-ngenchai, and I am currently a lecturer at ICT. As an alumnus of Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna (RMUTL), Thailand. I feel fortunate to have witnessed and contributed to the development of the relationship between RMUTL and ICT.
　My journey began as a student at RMUTL, studying Technical Education in Electronic Engineering. I participated in the Learning Express (LeX) program with Kanazawa Technical College (KTC), which became ICT, Kanazawa. I learned Design Thinking and worked with Japanese students on community projects. This enhanced my problem-solving skills and introduced me to international collaboration.
　In 2017, I visited Japan through the Sakura Science Project at Kanazawa Institute of Technology (KIT), gaining exposure to Japanese educational practices, research, and innovation. It deepened my understanding of the friendship and cooperation between RMUTL, KIT, and ICT.
　These exchanges laid the foundation for stronger academic ties between our institutions. Over the years, faculty members, staff, and students from both sides continued to build mutual trust and understanding through educational activities, research discussions, and cultural programs. When I joined ICT in 2020, I was pleased to contribute to this longstanding relationship　from a new perspective as a faculty member.
　A significant milestone was achieved on September 15, 2026, when RMUTL and ICT officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). For me, this was more than just a formal agreement. It reflected years of collaboration, exchanges, and shared experiences between our institutions. I was honored to support this important event and to witness the beginning of the next chapter of our partnership.
　The MoU provides a framework for future cooperation in several important areas, including student exchanges, joint academic activities, collaborative research, and cultural and experiential learning programs. We hope to create more opportunities for students to study and learn from each other's cultures, while also encouraging faculty members to work together on educational and research initiatives.
　Looking ahead, I would like to see the partnership develop through activities such as short-term exchange programs, international project-based learning, Design Thinking workshops, collaborative research in engineering and technology, and cultural immersion programs for students from both countries. These activities will not only strengthen academic cooperation but also help students develop global perspectives and lifelong international friendships.
　As someone who has benefited greatly from the relationship between RMUTL, KIT, and ICT, I am proud to have been part of this journey. I sincerely hope that the MoU signed this year will serve as a foundation for many new opportunities and meaningful collaborations in the future, bringing lasting benefits to students, faculty members, and both institutions for years to come.

Apirak Sang-ngenchai

Dr. Kanthana Ditkaew, RMUT representative,　and Masaki Shikada, President of ICTRMUT代表 Dr. Kanthana DitkaewとICT 鹿田正昭校長

With the RMUTL delegationRMUTL訪問団の皆様とともに

Hello. My name is Michihiro Hayashi, advisor of the Design & Fabrication Club.

On September 12 and 13, we participated in the 31st J-FACE Annual Conference of the Japanese Academy of Facial Studies, “Forum KAOGAKU 2026,” held at Kanazawa Institute of Technology.

The forum featured a wide variety of research and exhibits related to the human face. Topics included makeup, facial impressions, facial recognition, the faces of robots and animals, and portrait illustration. The conference included 29 oral presentations, 25 poster presentations, six demonstrations, and five corporate exhibits, with a total of 175 participants from across Japan.

From ICT, fourth-year student Rinse Okiyama gave a poster presentation on gaze perception and the Mona Lisa effect. The title of the presentation was “Facial Image Synthesis Inducing the Offset Mona Lisa Effect (oMLE) from Stereoscopic Photographic Images.”

To briefly explain the research, when we look at a person in a photograph or painting from different angles, we may sometimes feel as though the person’s eyes continue to look directly at us. This phenomenon is commonly known as the “Mona Lisa effect.” In this study, differences between images that produce the Mona Lisa effect and those that do not were experimentally examined by processing photographs of real people.

During the summer vacation, Rinse Okiyama worked intensively on preparing for the presentation. She served as the model for the images and took part in repeated photo sessions over several days, as well as image evaluation experiments.

She presented the results in a poster session at the conference. Many participants came to hear about the research, and lively discussions took place in front of the poster. In everyday research activities, students mainly have opportunities to discuss their work with their supervising teachers. At the conference, however, Rinse Okiyama was able to exchange ideas with faculty members from other universities, researchers from companies, illustrators, and many other people with different perspectives.

At the closing ceremony, Rinse Okiyama received the “Suganuma Award,” named after a former president of the Japanese Academy of Facial Studies.

She also had the opportunity to have her portrait drawn by an illustrator at the venue.

This year’s conference was held locally, but I hope that in the future she will continue to take on new challenges and actively present her research not only throughout Japan, but also internationally.

Design & Fabrication Club
Advisor: Michihiro Hayashi

Looking a little nervous before the presentation発表前で少し緊張する様子

Explaining the research研究を説明している様子

A venue bustling with participants盛況な会場の様子

Receiving the award表彰され少し照れている様子

The award certificate頂いた賞状

Hello! I’m Rintaro Kamoshita, a fourth-year student at the Kanazawa campus, also known as the “walking speaker.” Recently, I’ve expanded my range of activities all the way to Akihabara, where I performed my signature talk-style comedy routines with the electric town as my backdrop.

▶ AKIBA Re-ROBO FESS 2026 Participation Report

Lately, I’ve been focusing mostly on radio activities, so I’d really appreciate it if you could check those out as well. For more details, please visit our X (formerly Twitter) page via the link below:

▶ After-School Lounge at ICT

Now, that was quite a long introduction, but today I’d like to introduce an event I recently hosted: the “Returnee Presentations: Otago Polytechnic Study Abroad Program 2025.”

This event was an opportunity for all fourth-year students who had studied abroad in New Zealand for a year to share their experiences. They presented their memories, lessons learned, and advice for future students to parents and first and second-year students living in the dormitory in Hakusanroku Campus. The event was held on Wednesday, May 20, at the Kanazawa campus in a hybrid format, both in person and online.

During the presentations, students covered a wide variety of topics, including delicious food in New Zealand, fun travel destinations, the charm of animals such as sheep, and the beauty of the country’s vast natural landscapes. Among them, my personal favorite presentation was by a friend who introduced a Korean restaurant in New Zealand, which got a big laugh from the audience.

All presentations were delivered in English, showcasing the students’ improved language skills after their time abroad. Many of them had made remarkable progress in pronunciation, and listening to them again, I was genuinely surprised by how much everyone had grown. Some students even seemed to slip into a New Zealand accent during their presentations, which added to the atmosphere and made the event enjoyable from start to finish.

Through this event, we were able to share the journey of our one-year study abroad experience with younger students who will carry the future forward. It was truly a meaningful and rewarding time.

P.S. “Walking speaker”… that’s basically just a Walkman, isn’t it?

Rintaro Kamoshita

Hello, this is Michihiro Hayashi, advisor of the Design & Fabrication Club.

On Saturday, May 16, 2026, we participated in AKIBA Re-ROBO FESS 2026, held in Akihabara, Tokyo.

This event was organized for the first time by Akiba Tech Connect. It was created with the vision of forming a “chaotic space of technology” in Akihabara—the sacred place of hands-on manufacturing and technology—where people can freely connect and interact through technology. The event aimed to bring together participants from a wide range of backgrounds, including large corporations, startups, small and medium-sized companies, and academic institutions.

At the booth of the International College of Technology, Kanazawa, we introduced our school and the activities of the Design & Fabrication Club. Since the venue was located in the center of Akihabara and the event was held on a Saturday, there were many visitors and the venue was very lively. During the event, we gave presentations about KOSEN education and the unique initiatives of ICT.

We also realized that KOSEN is still not widely recognized among the general public, and some visitors asked us, “What is KOSEN?” On the other hand, among people involved in robotics and drone technologies, KOSEN is already well known. We strongly felt that students educated at KOSEN are highly valued as practical engineers and future leaders in the field.

In addition to exhibition booths, the event also featured a performance stage where we demonstrated our robot. The robot we brought was “Kobako Club,” which competed in the National KOSEN Robocon Competition in 2025.

During the demonstration, the robot carried gates made of stacked cardboard boxes and pulled a cart carrying a person. After the demonstration by our students, children visiting the venue were invited to ride on the cart, and the robot pulled them around the stage.

The children wore slightly oversized helmets and experienced being pulled by a robot while holding onto the cart—something most of them were probably experiencing for the first time. At first, some of them looked nervous, but by the end they were smiling and saying, “That was fun!”

Even after the stage performance ended, many children came to our exhibition booth to see the robot more closely. They touched the robot, looked inside its mechanisms, and asked many questions to the students in charge of explanations.

We believe this experience was valuable not only for children who may become future KOSEN students, but also for our own students.

Design & Fabrication Club
Advisor: Michihiro Hayashi

Arriving at the event venue会場到着

Preparing the exhibition booth展示ブース設営中

Ready to welcome visitors準備が終わって待機中

Introducing the robot to visitorsロボット解説中

Children taking a close look at the robotロボット見学中の子供たち

Children taking a close look at the robotステージ実演で台車に乗る参加者

Students explaining the robot beside the stageステージ脇でロボットの説明をする学生