Get creative, the Japanese way
CANVAS supervisor and creative director Junpei Suzuki showing off some features of the exhibition. IF you are keen on giving your children a hands-on educational experience, then head on to Cube 1 Isetan the Japan Store Kuala Lumpur.
From now until June 10, DAI Nippon Printing Co Ltd is holding an exhibition using cutting-edge technology such as modelling, video and music, via a series of workshops curated by non-profit organisation CANVAS.
The exhibition aims to increase logical thinking, and musical, physical, sociological, interpersonal and constructional skills, which in turn will stimulate a child’s sensibility and his sense of discovery with fun and exciting games.
“Toys are not just to entertain children but also to teach. Technology is a great tool to engage children in a fun and interactive way.
“We want to give Malaysians a chance to discover these new ways of learning and being creative, through Japanese games and applications.
“The exhibition will also give parents and children a chance to bond while having fun with these activities,” said Dai Nip- pon’s Media Content Planning Department general manager Ken Fukutake.
Divided into four different experiential spaces, the exhibition features a mini workshop zone, an installation zone, a product experience zone and an interactive zone.
The mini workshop zone, or My Box, is a corner where visitors can create things like orizuru (folded paper crane), koma (spinning top) and yajirobe (Japanese balancing toy), which can be taken home.
The installation zone, or Our Box, gives participants the chance to “build” a house and draw a vehicle with other children to co-create a mini town of Kuala Lumpur using a tablet.
Tool Box, or the product experience zone, features various educational products and technology by seven Japanese companies.
The fun games available in this zone include one created by Japanese children called Springin’, a fun time-lapse animation with the Koma Koma, making the Japanese traditional art bonsai using neji block, and playing music using kitchen utensils with the Ototo. A young visitor building a ‘bonsai tree’ using screws.
Children will also get the chance to try their hand at programming by playing with Glicode, an app that uses Pocky snack. The snack is used as a command move for the character inside the game.
At the interactive zone, or Sound Box, visitors can also try creating a composition using their body gestures with Kagura by simply touching the marks that float up on the screen.