As a second major event of the Japanese Cultural Experience Class of the Summer School Program 2015, sixteen program participants and eight international students of the Japanese Language and Cultural Studies Course at the International Student Center visited Toki City, eastern part of Gifu Prefecture on June 22. Dr. Mutsuhiro Shima of the Department of Chemistry and Bimolecular Science, Faculty of Engineering accompanied them as a supervisor.

The students visited Donburi Hall situated alongside a road station^* called, "Toki-Mino Pottery Route in Toki City." They joined two different pottery workshops offered at the Hall: painting and pottery making on the wheel. In painting, the students used brushes to draw their favorite Kanji Chinese characters and animation characters on the surface of unglazed mugs and bowls.
In pottery making, the students were struggling in shaping clay into cups or bowls at potter's wheel, but thanks to kind instructions of the staff, they created one-of-a-kind tea cups, plates, etc. at the end.

After the workshops, the students visited the adjacent ceramic experiment facility "Cera-Techno Toki" where they came into contact with both the depth of traditional Mino Pottery and modern pottery making techniques. All the participants truly had a wonderful time enjoying unique pottery culture and lush greenery of Toki City and the extensive eastern Tono Region.

*Road Station: local markets and shops located alongside major roads in Japan