Year of Japan 2026 UPHF x Toyota

Twenty-five years of Toyota Motor Manufacturing France's presence in Onnaing, in the Hauts-de-France region, doesn't go unnoticed. It's an industrial, human and territorial story that has taken a lasting hold on the local landscape... and one that's also being told at university.

On the occasion of this symbolic anniversary, the Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France and Toyota have chosen to do much more than celebrate: to transform this relationship into an entire year of exploration, encounters and projects.
The Year of Japan 2026 follows in the footsteps of previous thematic years organized by the UPHF, dedicated to Canada and Africa. Through these programs, the university honors cultures and territories to open up its campuses, teaching and practices to other ways of thinking about the world.

A year built with the whole university

The Year of Japan is not a program "on the side" of university life. It's an integral part of it.
Training, research, student life, international relations, innovation, links to the region: every dimension of the university has contributed to building the events of 2026. The objective is simple, but ambitious: to bring Japan to life not as a fixed theme, but as a thread that runs through the campuses.

In concrete terms, this translates into a wide variety of formats:

educational projects in training courses,
scientific collaborations with Japanese partners,
student-led cultural and festive events,
times of exchange with local industrial players,
and moments open to local residents.

This year is therefore being written by several hands, at the crossroads of disciplines and audiences.

Abdelhakim Artiba, Xavier Bertrand, Elisabeth Gondy, Rodolphe Delaunay, Akiyoshi Kawabata, Arnaud Huftier - © Grégory HAU

The Greetings Ceremony: a two-voice launch

On January 30, 2026, the joint welcoming ceremony between UPHF and Toyota Motor Manufacturing France set the tone.
On stage and in the hall: two worlds that everything could oppose; a university and a major industrial site, united around the same observation: their histories are already deeply linked in the territory.

This inaugural moment marked the official launch of the Year of Japan, in the presence of university communities, Toyota teams and institutional partners. Xavier Bertrand, President of the Hauts-de-France Region, hailed the initiative as a concrete illustration of the meeting of industry and academia, which he described in his speech as "a damn good idea".

The Year of Japan was launched at a ceremony held in the presence of Toyota's teams and institutional partners.

Beyond the speeches, it was above all the exchanges, the faces and the meeting of two professional cultures that marked the evening.

UPHF x Toyota Greetings Ceremony | Launch of the Year of Japan 2026

Carnaval Happi 2026: a festival that will live on

On April 9, 2026, the Mont Houy campus took on a different face.

With Carnaval Happi, inspired by Japanese matsuri and the traditional jacket of the same name, students have imagined a festive, collective and resolutely open event.

Parade, brass band, workshops, cultural village: everything has been thought out to circulate audiences and transform the campus into a shared party space.

But beyond the moment, something else is at play here: the birth of a rendezvous destined to last. This carnival is not just a highlight of the Year of Japan. It's already a trace of it.

Thought up for and with students, it embodies a very concrete way of bringing the university to life: a place where we learn, but also where we create events that bring an entire community together.

In a single movement, students and staff come together on campus to share a simple, unifying celebration.

Happi Carnival 2026

Participate in the Year of Japan 2026

Conferences, meetings, cultural events, festive times, discoveries and exchanges around Japan: the Year of Japan 2026 continues throughout the year on UPHF campuses and with local partners.

In partnership with Toyota Motor Manufacturing France, new events will punctuate this program open to students, staff, partners and local residents.