Helen Hardin Honors College

Honor Students Visit Japan for Spring Break 2026

Tuesday, 24 March 2026

Twenty Honors students spent spring break immersed in the cultural and historical landscapes of Hiroshima and Kyoto, Japan. Centered on the Buddhist teaching “Out of the mud, blooms the lotus,” the course explored themes of loss, regeneration, and resilience.

Led by David Horan, Associate Professor of Practice for Photography, the group visited significant historical sites such as the A-Bomb Memorial Peace Park and Museum in Hiroshima, along with Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, engaging with both traditional and contemporary cultural practices. Students examined historical architectural styles alongside efforts at preservation, while also confronting stories of destruction, renewal, and rebirth as symbols of peace and the human capacity to overcome adversity.

Throughout the journey, students reflected on Japanese aesthetic and philosophical concepts such as Wabi-Sabi and Iki, deepening their understanding of impermanence, simplicity, and beauty shaped by experience. The trip offered a powerful lens through which to consider how cultures respond to loss and cultivate regeneration, both physically and spiritually.

Every year the Honors College organizes an international Honors Study Tour. The Study Tour is led by UofM faculty and is part of a course that is offered during the Spring semester with the travel component during Spring Break or early summer. The tour changes theme and destination from year to year with recent countries visited include France, Italy, Greece, Costa Rica, and South Africa. This was the third trip in nine years that the Honors Study Tour featured Japan.

Most of students participating in the trip received the UofM study abroad scholarship to offset the cost.