The First OUGC SEKAI HIROBA: World Plaza was held

The first OUGC SEKAI HIROBA: World Plaza was held on Friday, July 3, 2026 on the Minoh Campus.

This newly established event aims to bring together local residents and faculty and students of UOsaka in a welcoming environment where they can engage with one another, learn about diverse global traditions and cultures, and discover the educational opportunities available through the University of Osaka Global Campus (OUGC).

For this memorable first event, participants explored Wayang, Indonesia’s traditional shadow puppet theater.

Wayang is a traditional form of Indonesian performing arts that includes shadow puppet theater, puppet shows, and other theatrical traditions. Drawing much of its subject matter from the ancient Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata, which are also sacred texts in Hinduism, Wayang has developed in unique ways within Indonesia’s own cultural, historical, and social context.
(For more information, visit: https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/430884)

The event’s first session began with a welcome address by KIKUCHI Masakazu, Dean of the School of Foreign Studies. Participants then enjoyed learning about Indonesian culture from international students, and at the various booths, enjoyed hands-on experiences with traditional musical instruments, costumes, food, and Wayang shadow puppets. Throughout the session, attendees engaged enthusiastically and listened with keen interest to the students’ explanations.

In the second session, participants attended a live Wayang performance. The production was an innovative and experimental work that blended shadow puppetry with live music, sound design, and video art. Narration and recitation were presented in both Javanese and Japanese, creating a multilingual performance experience. The audience was able to immerse themselves in a unique artistic world that reinterpreted the traditions of Indonesian shadow theater.

Participants shared the following comments about their experience at the event:

-I was able to experience Indonesian culture and the warmth of its people, which made this a very memorable experience.
-I was able to immerse myself in Indonesian culture through a rich hands-on experience of tasting, seeing, touching, and listening.
-I truly enjoyed interacting with people from Indonesia and Japanese students.
-It was my first time seeing Wayang, and having had the chance to look at the puppets up close beforehand made the performance even more enjoyable.
-I would love to see this series continue.

In future series of this event, we hope to provide a variety of engaging programs on different themes for members of the local community.
As events will be held periodically rather than on a fixed schedule, announcements about upcoming series will be posted on the page below.
We hope you will follow along and join us again.

The University of Osaka Global Campus https://www.sfs.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/