Hello! I’m Yuri Makada from the Hakusanroku office. Today, I’d like to introduce this year’s Halloween Events.
 As the Halloween season approached, the Hakusanroku campus building was festively decorated by students and learning mentors. They created handmade Jack-o’-lanterns and added playful touches, such as illustrated plastic bags attached to air conditioner vents, brightening up the entire building.

 On Friday, October 31st, 2025, the day of Halloween, several students and faculty members attended classes in costume. Students dressed as Pokémon characters, maids, cowboys, and more, while teachers appeared in Japanese school uniforms or even banana costumes, creating a unique and lively atmosphere in the classroom.
 For lunch, a special Halloween menu was served such as Vampire’s Feast Pizza (stuffed with cheese and absolutely delicious!), creepy-colored pasta shaped like caterpillars PLUS about 10 varieties of candy available for everyone to enjoy. Students had a great time savoring these treats.
 As the classes came to an end, even more students joined in with creative costumes. One student a horse headpiece paired with a sumo outfit, another dressed up as an Arabian sheik accompanied by his bodyguards, and another student transformed ordinary red clothes into cape-like design for unique look. During the Halloween parade, students struck confident poses on stage, captivating the audience. Laughter and cheers filled the atmosphere, making the event lively from start to finish.
 After the parade, the learning mentors held a Piñata game, a tradition from Mexican celebrations where participants break a decorated container to release treats. Blindfolded students relied on the voices of their peers to guide them as they swung at the piñata. When the container finally broke and candy scattered everywhere, the room erupted in excitement.

 Later, during the Learning Session (Night School), learning mentors hosted a Campus Hide-and-Seek game. Students were divided into four groups, taking turns as “seekers” while the others hid. All the lights in the building were turned off, and seekers used their phone flashlights to search classrooms, labs, restrooms, and even inside shelves. Hidden students tried to stay silent, but some couldn’t help screaming when discovered! Those who remained hidden until the time limit received candy as a prize.

 This year’s Halloween event was a wonderful opportunity for students and faculty to come together and have fun. The entire campus was filled with seasonal spirit, and smiles spread through classes, meals, and activities all day long.

Yuri Makada

 I am Michihiro Hayashi, advisor for the Design & Fabrication Club. This year, as part of the summer vacation assignment, students worked on 3D CAD modeling. The theme was “Things to Take on an Outing”. There were more than 30 submissions from 1st and 2nd year students. The submissions covered a wide range of genres—if you took all of them on a trip, it would surely be a fun and convenient excursion! After careful evaluation by the judges, four outstanding entries were selected for awards.
 Let’s take a closer look at the award-winning pieces.

2nd year student Madoka Nakazawa: My Smartphone

 Although the geometric shape of a smartphone is simple, this model is highly decorated. Using a combination of arcs and straight lines, the student skillfully recreated a cute character. The bead strap is well represented, and even the shining sun—usually difficult to model in CAD—was given a hand-drawn look. The cracked screen detail was an impressive touch.

Comment from Madoka 
Production time: Worked a little each day, about a week in total.
Focus points: Paid attention to details like the camera lens area and the character’s facial expression. The cracked screen is definitely the highlight.

1st year student Taiki Sasaki: My Glasses

 This model of eyeglasses is extremely realistic—almost like something from an optical shop catalog. Not only the overall shape, but also the rims, bridge, end pieces, nose pads, hinges, and temples were faithfully reproduced. Even the complex curved surfaces were carefully modeled. Wearing these glasses might make you feel smarter—perhaps reflecting the creator’s intention.

Comment from Taiki 
Production time: About 6 hours.
Focus points: Closely observed my own glasses, especially the three-dimensional feel of the rims that hold the lenses.

1st year student Reo Sakai: My Lantern

 The overall shape is well balanced, and the model includes functional details such as the mechanism for lighting and extinguishing the lantern, the fuel compartment, and the screw-on lid. These were created so their functions could be explained clearly. If the flickering flame inside a dim tent were rendered in CG, it would make a stunning video—possibly even a top entry in a CG contest.

Comment from Reo 
Production time: Worked 2–3 hours a day for 2–3 days.
Focus points: Paid attention to texture settings and the screw shape of the lid. The lid could probably be 3D printed and used in real life.

1st year student Hiroki Yatsuo: My Bag

 This piece features many curved surfaces, which are difficult to model, yet they are well balanced. Details such as zippers and metal buckles were carefully crafted. Modeling the parts where the belt passes through the buckle and attaches to the bag required complex operations. There were likely many functions and techniques not taught in class, so the student must have researched and learned independently—a valuable experience for future projects. If the belt were bent three-dimensionally (with depth), the model would look even more realistic, so I encourage trying that next time.

Comment from Hiroki 
Production time: Worked a little each day, about 3–4 days in total.
Focus points: Focused on the curved zipper and the shape of the belt buckle.

 Although I only introduced the award-winning works, the other submissions were also excellent. Since the theme was “Things to Take on an Outing,” many students modeled bags, glasses, smartphones, and portable batteries. Interestingly, international students chose to model knives, perhaps reflecting humanity’s innate survival instincts and the usefulness of such tools in nature.
 I plan to continue this contest next year and look forward to seeing even greater improvements in students’ 3D CAD skills.

Michihiro Hayashi

 Hi, my name is Kotaro Higuchi, a 1st year student at the ICT. Recently, five high school students from the state of Missouri, USA, visited our campus. Today, I would like to share my memories with my buddy, Isaac.

 I first met Isaac on the evening of Saturday, June 7th, 2025, the day they arrived at the Hakusanroku campus. My first impression of him was that he was tall and had such an adult aura, so I couldn’t believe that he is a high school student.  However, when I tried to speak with him, I found out that he was interested in Japanese culture. While we were explaining our school, he listened aggressively and frequently asked questions.

 I was relieved that we were able to become friends so quickly. The next day, we went on a trip to Kanazawa. During the bus ride, Isaac was curious about everything he saw in Japan. He said the rice plants growing in the paddy fields were beautiful and we had an exciting conversation about the differences between school life in Japan and America. In Kanazawa, he was impressed by the clever design of Kanazawa Castle and saying, “This castle must have been really hard to attack.” I thought that was a very interesting and unique observation. At the end of the trip, he became hooked on Japanese food, and he ate Dango and bought lots of Onigiri and snacks at 7-Eleven.

 After that, we spent our weekdays together attending some classes. We also played basketball and American football after school, which made the rest of the time we shared really satisfying. I hope we can meet again someday.

Kotaro Higuchi

 Hello. My name is Haru Abe, a 1st year student living on the Hakusanroku campus. In June 2025, five high school students from Columbia city in America visited Hakusanroku campus. This time, I will write about what I feel about living with them in ICT as study abroad buddies.

 On June 7th, American students arrived at Hakusanroku campus. All the students are tall, and I was surprised by how mature they look. I was a little nervous because it was my first time meeting American students, and I couldn’t talk with them in English. But American students talked with me, perhaps because they were interested in Japan. Therefore, I was able to ease my tension. With the American students, I was able to have a lively conversation about Japanese, overseas animation, and sports.

 Every after school, we played basketball together. When I saw the tall American student dunk, I was surprised. After that, because he also plays American football, he taught me how to play it. But that was very difficult, and I can’t throw as far as he does. Also, after that we went to the onsen.

 For sightseeing in Kanazawa, we went to Kenroku Garden. I haven’t gone sightseeing in Kanazawa, so I’m not very sure about it. But I taught American students how to buy some food in shops, and because of that, I think that I fulfilled my buddy duties.

 At the time, I didn’t have confidence, and I was nervous because I wanted to improve my English skills. Also, I want to be able to talk more with native speakers at the next opportunity. See you again!

 Hello, I am Shunta Tamura, a 1st year student. I learned many unknown and interesting things, when I communicated with American student. However, I am not good at English, so I had a hard time.
 First, the American students were very kind and funny! The most interesting part was about the favorite foods of American students. They were sushi, pizza, and many other foods, but the most surprising of all was that an American student said, “I like natto!”.
 The next thing that surprised me in my interactions with American students was that most of them were so tall. I am not very tall, so I envied them.
 Finally, unfortunately, I had some the difficulties in interacting with the American students. I am not very good at English, so it was very difficult for me to understand what they were saying. If I did understand them, I was also worried that they would not understand what I was saying. Luckily, I was happy because I had some good English conversations because I used English words and gestures to communicate what I couldn't tell. I am happy that I did not give up and continued talking because I could gradually understand what they were saying after talking with them every day.

Shunta Tamura