An annual Japanese festival at UCLan has drawn in the crowds at this year’s event.

The Bunkasai Japanese Cultural Festival returned for its fifth year to celebrate the culture, food and language of Japan.

Organised by the Japanese Society (J-Soc) and UCLan’s Japanese department, the day-long event was attended by hundreds of students.

Activities included a Tenugui textile art exhibition, charity tea ceremony, calligraphy workshops, cos-play stands, kimono dressing and advice stalls on opportunities to study and travel in Japan.

J-Soc President Lewis Cox said: “It’s a fantastic event that draws in people from all over the University who may not know much about Japan.

“We find most people have some idea of Japanese pop-culture and our event acts as a gateway to providing a deeper understanding of the county’s culture and traditions.”

More than 300 students currently study Japanese at UCLan, and the event reflects a general increase in the popularity of courses at UCLan related to the Far East.

Takako Amano, Senior Lecturer in Japanese of School of Language and Global Studies, led the students in organising the event.

She said: “We are very proud of our Bunkasai Japanese Cultural Festival, which has become a popular annual fixture in the University’s calendar and hosts literally hundreds of participants.

“UCLan boasts one of the UK’s biggest Japanese departments and study abroad programmes in Japan with the largest number of partner institutions for student exchanges so it’s certainly an exciting time to be involved in Japanese studies at the University.

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“As you can see from the Bunkasai, UCLan has very active student community interested in Japan. We welcome more students and public to attend many of our events and study with us so that we can share our passion.”

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