The 2nd Moripass Club Event Team successfully held an event in January. We interviewed Yoshino Sachiko (left), Tagami Noe (center), and Tokunaga Konomi (right), who were relieved to have finished the long event on behalf of the team.

Q. The workshop participants were very excited about the event. What are your honest thoughts now that it's over?

Yoshino: I think the two guests played a part in this, but I was really glad that the participants enjoyed themselves throughout the event. Everyone had bright expressions when I spoke to them during the workshop, and I was surprised to get such honest and positive responses.

Tagami: The aim of the workshop was to encourage participants to interact with each other, but before the event I was a bit worried whether it would go as planned. However, once it started I was relieved to see that a friendly and positive atmosphere quickly emerged. I was glad that it happened naturally, rather than being forced by us.

Tokunaga: I was working at the reception desk, so I arrived in the middle of the talk, and I was really happy to see the participants listening intently to the two guests. Many people were nodding and taking notes, and even though I wasn't saying anything, I was moved and said, "Wow!"

Q. On the other hand, is there anything you regret about the event?

Yoshino: The Free Magazine team, who completed the magazine, also helped out at the event, but they didn't get through to everyone the instruction to "please sit at the back of the participants during the talk." Even after the talk started, they were moving around and making things a little noisy, which was not good.

Tagami: I think we should have created a proper staff manual for all members of the Moripass team, including the magazine team, and shared it with them sooner. We also should have created a plan to be able to respond flexibly to any issues that might arise during the event.

Tokunaga: I had almost no interaction with the free magazine team in previous productions, so I regret that I should have gotten to know them better and asked them to play the appropriate roles. I regret not having asked someone who was good with a camera to take the photos, or someone who was easy to talk to, to participate in the workshop.

Q. Has the group work gone smoothly so far?

Yoshino: The event team didn't get together much in the first half of the year, but as the second half progressed, production delays made things busier and busier, and we all started to feel like we had to work harder. After that, as we started to work on the proposal and think about the specifics of the event, it became easier for everyone to participate.

Tokunaga: At first, we thought the event team had only 10 people, but when we tried it out, the number of people was surprisingly just right. However, when everyone's schedules didn't match up for meetings, it was difficult because there weren't enough people to show up. Everyone's schedules were all different, so sometimes half of us couldn't make it, and only five people could show up.

Tagami: When only three people including me were able to gather for the theme "Play with Characters," we decided, "If we don't decide on this now, we won't make any progress," so we decided on the title and who will be in charge right then and there. After sharing it with everyone and making some adjustments, we decided, "Okay, let's go with this." We also overcame the delays in production by deciding what we could decide with a small number of people.

Q. What about creating something together with people from different schools?

Tokunaga: As we were creating, I found it interesting that the image of the school matched the individual's personality, making me think, "Ah, this person definitely looks like they went to XX art school." I think this is due to the influence of the classes, but I felt that there were tendencies in the way ideas were presented depending on the school.

Yoshino: Because the class size was small and we were able to get close to each other, it was a valuable experience because we were able to work closely with people from other schools.

There were times when the production did not go smoothly, and the event team was full of anxiety as they approached the day of the event. However, everyone worked together and managed to make the event a success on the day. The things they learned through the Moripass Club activities, which they could not have experienced at school, seem to have become an asset to each and every member.