An Origami workshop was organized by the Department of Languages, Cultural Studies and Performing Arts of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences on Friday,16th September 2022 inviting Ms. Iromi Senarathna who is a specialist in Origami and a very prominent figure in promoting the art of Origami in Sri Lanka. She has been conducting origami programs in Sinhala through TV as well as in educational YouTube channels. Prof. Shirantha Heenkenda, Dean of the faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, who chaired the workshop briefed the history of the relationship between Japan and Sri Lanka and highlighted the opportunities the students can get knowing Japanese language and culture. This was a co-curricular activity for the students who have registered for JPN 1213: Japanese Language and Culture. The objective of the program was to promote cultural awareness and to experience and understand Japanese way of thinking through the sophisticated art of origami. Though the time was only an hour, the participants could get to know a glimpse of Japanese way of expressing and recreating shapes and how they calculate and design in a way that everything fits into just the right place. Ms Iromi showed how additional steps could be used to original folding steps so that it could be arranged to bring out unique results. Everybody who participated including some faculty members ad nonacademic staff enjoyed making origami and we hope to have more workshops in the future.
