HIS Celebrates Active Aging Week

by Theodore Brennan

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As the world rapidly changes, the cultural gap between younger and older generations widens. To bridge that gap and to celebrate life together, on October 11th, 2022, a handful of HIS students and the older community of Sapporo — members of the Hokkaido Multinational Support Community (HMSC) — met in the MPR (Multi-Purpose Room) to get to know each other better.

The afternoon began with introductions and moved on to “human bingo” — two activities designed to get to know one another better. The bingo was an icebreaker, where each box was filled with something someone might have done, might do, or has done. The game progressed as everyone asked each other questions, filling in their boxes to get to know each other and score a bingo.

When bingo was over, the students of HIS gave the HMSC members a school tour from the first floor to the gym and shared information about each classroom and the posters and artwork that lined the halls.

After the tour, we returned to the MPR to do folk dancing. The HMSC members guided the students through dances from their youth, such as the Hokey Pokey.

After spending energy dancing, we sat down to relax with a couple of games of cards. We played Old Maid, trying to make pairs and not get stuck with the old maid card so that we could get rid of our cards first and win.

After a couple of rounds, it was getting late so we took a group photo and went home.

Overall, this cross-cultural event was a success and helped the younger generation rediscover the past, and also helped the older generation discover more about the present happening at HIS along with a couple of its present students. Much appreciation to all who enjoyed this event, with hopes to celebrate together again.