“Bangradsh Day” Held by Imam Hasan on December 8
On December 8, a special event called “Bangladesh Day” was held, organized by Imam Hasan.
In the IB course, we have been living and studying together for five months since August with two international students participating in the Asia High School Student Bridge Project Plus.
One of them, Imam, is an 18-year-old student from Bangladesh who attends Academia School Lalmatia Main Campus.
Asia Kakehashi Project+
A project that invites outstanding high school students who are studying Japanese from member countries—mainly in Asia—to high schools across Japan. While living with host families or in dormitories, they study alongside Japanese high school students and deepen international exchange.
Event
For this occasion, Imam planned and hosted “Bangladesh Day” for first- and second-year IB course students.
During the event, Imam wore traditional Bangladeshi clothing and gave a presentation about Bangladesh’s history, culture, and food.
The traditional outfit he wore was a long white garment called a Panjabi. Since it was my first time seeing such attire, it memorable impression on me.
We also used nameplates written in the Bangladeshi language, and students took commemorative photos—female students wearing bindis on their foreheads and male students holding the Bangladeshi flag—allowing us to experience a small part of Bangladeshi culture.
In addition, Imam introduced various Bangladeshi sweets. There were many different kinds, ranging from uniquely flavored snacks that were unfamiliar to us to ones similar to spicy rice crackers.
To be honest, some of the flavors were surprising since we are not used to them, but experiencing these differences through food made it even more enjoyable and helped us better understand the contrast between Bangladeshi and Japanese food cultures.
Conclusion
Although the event lasted only one hour, we were able to learn about topics such as Bangladeshi weddings and festivals—things we rarely have the opportunity to learn about in regular classes. Tasting sweets and directly experiencing aspects of daily life and culture made this a very valuable experience.
We were genuinely interested in each other’s cultures, and through conversations and asking questions, I felt that the distance between Imam and me grew even smaller, which made the experience very enjoyable.
I used to feel that interacting with people who speak different languages and come from different cultural backgrounds was a high hurdle. However, by learning about one another in this way, it not only became a valuable learning experience but also an opportunity to become closer. I would like to continue engaging actively in such exchanges and gain more experience in the future.
