In the second semester of 2023, an amazing project was born in Geiko – the Yatai Project. The international students, together with Japanese students, used their brain juice and muscles to build a yatai. Yatai is a mobile food stall. Aaron, the international student I interviewed in my article, “Friendship Without Borders at Geiko #4 Taking the First Step and Voilà”, initiated this project. He wants to take the free coffee project a step further.

Yatai is a special sight and forms the landscape of Fukuoka City. You can see rows of yatai in the Nakasu area. Many people from all over the country or overseas gathered at the yatai to enjoy the delicious food and chat with their friends and new people they met at the yatai. Aaron wanted to take this concept and create a place where international and Japanese students, as well as local residents, could casually interact with each other.

Sharing Aaron’s mission for the Yatai Project, new members who came to Geiko in October as exchange students, mainly from France, Germany, China, and Iran and some Japanese members with various design backgrounds, joined his project.

The members overcame many challenges during the process. For example, they had to go to the bamboo forests to get the bamboo, study how to handle bamboo, seek help from experts outside the campus to teach them how to cut and process materials they had no experience with, plan the structure of the yatai to make it sturdy and obtain the license to serve food, and so on. Although funding and Japanese rules were big constraints, the members faced them head-on and overcame them to make the dream a reality!

They finally completed building the yatai just before the event and had to work overnight. The yatai was completed with the help of the experts outside the campus, teachers who were involved in the event, and the staff of the design workshop.

As a celebration to the completion of the yatai and to thank the staff at the design workshop, the members serve the breakfast to them on the event day.

Unfortunately, the event scheduled for November along the Nakagawa River was cancelled due to bad weather, and another event scheduled for December near Ohashi Station was also cancelled due to heavy snow. Though disappointed, they continued to persevere and the Yatai project finally had its first event day off campus in February. They managed to arrange for a space and slot to set up the yatai at an event held at Botanical Life Square at Fukuoka Botanical Garden. In this event, many local people visited the yatai and chatted with the Yatai project members in English and Japanese. There were even people who really had an interest in the Yatai project. Hence, the members could build networks for future events. Mariam, a French student who was a member of the Yatai project, shared that the atmosphere was awesome, with children running around the yatai, and the smiles of their families watching them.

From the experiences of the Yatai project, you can see that it is possible to realize a project of this scale with a team that consists not only of students but teachers and staff on the campus and also, experts off campus. Of course, there will be challenges and difficulties. In fact, one of the challenges is communicating with the local people and the teachers and staff on the campus. The international students, especially, need to put in extra effort to communicate due to cultural and language differences. However, that’s how you learn and immerse in the culture and gain deep friendships. I would like to take this opportunity to commend the members of this project for their hard work.

Moving forward, the yatai created will be used on an ongoing basis as a place for international students who come to Geiko to play an active role in the Fukuoka region and interact with local people. Through the exchange at the yatai, international students and Japanese students, the Ohashi area, as well as Fukuoka, will be connected. The Yatai project will continue under the new name, Misugi. The counter of the yatai was constructed with three cedar trees and cedar in Japanese is “sugi” and “mi” means “three” in Japanese. Hence, “Misugi”. International students who will be coming to Geiko or to Kyushu University will surely see their activities at some point. I hope that the project will continue to grow as new international students join the project and continue to be a part of it. Keep an eye out for Misugi! Please also check out their Instagram account.

———————–

About the Writer

I am a master’s student. I’m Japanese, but I really love foreign cultures, especially Chinese culture. It’s fun for me to hear the stories from international students because it broadens my horizons. If you also become a Geiko student, you can expand your creativity as well as your international horizons.

Why don’t you join us? We are waiting for you!

Megumi Hasegawa
Human Life Design and Science Course