UC’s Executive Dean of Arts Professor Kevin Watson and the Director of the Consular Office of Japan, Tsuguyoshi Hada welcomed the students to campus.
The secondary school students took part in three intensive language sessions, with 25 UC students as teaching assistants and mentors. Year 13 students interviewed the UC students in Japanese on their motivation and strategies for learning Japanese, in a special tuakana-teina session.
The day ended with a vibrant performance by Takumi, a Japanese drum group from Christchurch, followed by a massive dance-off to the Japanese pop song Mela!