[Exhibition Opening] Cultural Learning: Show and Tell – New Colombo Plan Study Tour of Japan

The Institute for Australian and Asian Arts and Culture and the School of Humanities and Communication Arts are very excited to present the first exhibition of its kind to show and tell our students’ cultural learning during their study tour in Japan, led by Dr Peter Mauch, Director of Languages, Linguistics, Interpreting and Translation, TESOL.

This photographic exhibition captures the reflections of students who participated in a New Colombo Plan-funded study tour of Japan in June-July 2025. Students enrolled in the first instance in a three-week summer program delivered by Meiji University in Tokyo and then undertook a one-week tour of Hiroshima and Kyoto. The study focused on Japanese language, politics, culture, society, economics, and history; and the tour immersed students in a culture very different to their own. It extended their powers of verbal and non-verbal communication, challenged their thinking, notions and stereotypes, and encouraged them to develop a sense of global citizenship.

This exhibition invites viewers to experience Japan through the eyes of these students, with all their curiosity, attentiveness, and openness to the unfamiliar. The images reveal moments of discovery, insight, and self-awareness. These are not just snapshots of travel. They are visual field notes of cultural learning in action. Each photograph tells a story.

This exhibition reminds us that cultural learning requires presence, humility, and reflection. In sharing their photographs, these students also share their evolving understandings of Japan—and of themselves.