Following the lifting of travel restrictions, the Asian Center sent five Japan Studies majors to participate on a one-week study tour in the Kansai region, Japan sponsored by the Konnosuke Matsushita Foundation from 11 to 18 December 2022. The students engaged with Japanese students and faculty from Kyoto University, Ryukoku University, Doshisha Women’s College, and Osaka University through cultural workshops. As part of the activities, they performed Arashi’s “Happiness” and Yeng Constantino’s “Pasko sa Pinas” for the Japanese delegation.

Accompanied by Dr. Henelito A. Sevilla Jr., Dean of the Asian Center, and Dr. Jocelyn O. Celero, Associate Professor and Japan Studies Coordinator, the students also participated in a lunch meeting with the grandson of the founder and Vice Chairman of the K. Matsushita Foundation, Masayuki Matsushita where their Japanese language skills were put to the test. During lunch, Mr. Matsushita surprised the delegation with his rendition of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.”

The study tour also aimed at providing students opportunities to experience first-hand Japanese multicultural society through sights, sounds, and food/culinary traditions in the Kansai region. They visited the Panasonic Eco-Technology Center (PETEC) and the Panasonic Museum in Hyogo, the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Arashiyama Bamboo Forest, Gion district, Nishiki Market, Kyoto Imperial Palace, and several temples and shrines around Kyoto and Nara. The group also visited the Yamato-Saidaiji Station, which was near the assassination site of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

With the theme of the tour, “Sensing Japan: A Study Tour for Understanding Japanese History, Culture, and Society,” the delegates tried on a kimono for the first time while attending chado (tea ceremony) at Maikoya. They also sampled a variety of Japanese dishes popular in the region, such as okonomiyaki, ramen, yatsuhashi, daifuku, and sushi. To complete the sensory experience, the group headed to Gear Theatre in Kyoto to witness a non-verbal performance. The first of its kind in Japan, the show fuses Kabuki techniques with modern and futuristic elements, to entice the viewers to use their five senses to understand the story.

Selected based on their written essays about the theme, the students—Elyssa Clarisse Rosales, Justin Michael Beneraba, Jeanne Therese Maling, Marie Beatriz Gulinao and Altamira Chantrelle Reyes, specialize in Japan for their master’s degree in Asian Studies. Japan specialization is one of the MA programs offered at the Asian Center, under the Northeast Asia track. To learn more about our graduate programs, visit the Academics page.

MORE PHOTOS FROM THE ACTIVITY

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

The cultural program is part of a Memorandum of Agreement between the K. Matsushita Foundation and UP Asian Center. It is open only to the Japan Studies majors of the UP Asian Center currently enrolled in the program, preferably with a basic level of Japanese proficiency.

 For inquiries, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 8 981 8500 local 3580.
The Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman offers M.A. degrees in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The UP Asian Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. It also offers a Ph.D. program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. For an overview of these graduate programs, click here. As an area studies institution, the Asian Center also publishes Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, the latest issue of which can be downloaded at the journal's website.