■ "Playing with words" workshop

　Based on the renku style (linked verse) that has been enjoyed in Japan for a long time, we had "playing with words” online involving Japanese children living in Bangkok, Thailand and Toronto, Canada. The “Ren” in “Renku” means "connecting words” and the “Ku” means a "a block of words." So “Renku” is a "word game" where you can enjoy connecting words with other people. Renku is a traditional Japanese game, so there are various rules. However, this time we devised a way for anyone to enjoy using Japanese. What kind of world can we create by linking words one by one? In each of these workshops, unique worlds were created using words.

Watch the video for "Playing with Words" (created by Kanayo Ueda).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AiyiF_lY6Y

Facilitator: Kanayo Ueda (poet, representative of NPO)
http://www.kanayo-net.com/

Planned and designed by Hiroaki Ishiguro

1. Bangkok, Thailand

• Date and time:
  April 25 (Sun), 2021,13:00-15:00 (Thai time)
  
• Place:
  Online
• In cooperation with:
  Nobuko Fukasawa (Representative of the Japanese Language Education Study Association with Japanese as both a native language and heritage language in Thailand)
  https://jmherat2006.wixsite.com/jmherat

2. Toronto, Canada

• Date and time:
  May 29 (Sat), 2021, 9:30-11:30 (Toronto time)
  
• Place:
  Online
• In cooperation with:
  Toronto Japanese Language Class (Toronto Kokugo Kyoshitu)
  https://www.torontokokugokyoshitsu.com/

Sponsored by: Research on learning activities mediated by the performance arts of children who have diverse languages and cultures (Basic Research Program, Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) 17H02710)
Contact address: podo.ce@rikkyo.ac.jp