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SCSU Japan Club reflects on 'Trip'
By John Behling
Published:
Monday, April 26, 2004
For an organization of about 20 active members, SCSU's Japan Club had a lot of preparation for this year's Japan night, Trip to Japan. Last Friday the club met in the Lawrence Hall basement to reflect on the sell-out event.
Miho Torii started learning traditional and modern Japanese dance when she was only six years old. Torii was in charge of choreographing the evening's last dance, the Sakura dance.
"Our dance is based on tradition, but the music is more modern," Torii said. "It's more up tempo and it's more fun."
Torii said the Sakura dance reflects what is more common to Japanese students today, rather than the traditional dance which is not seen as often in Japan. Even though the dancers were students from Japan, they had to learn how to to wear the kimono and how to stand and move with the correct mannerisms.
"Through Japan Night, many Japanese students try to learn our own culture, like learning how to drum or wear kimono or traditional clothes," Torii said.
It was Torii's first time teaching dance, and she said the hardest part was teaching the basic skills which are very important.
"Japan night is to share Japanese culture with American students and students from other countries, but we also learn Japanese culture through Japan night," Torii said.
Japan Club President Kunihito Senju and Promotions Manager Aaron Webb echoed this sentiment.
"Definitely, (I) learned a lot about Japanese culture. Actually, to learn Japanese culture is to learn about myself, also," Senju said.
"The nuances between the different regions is Japan is something that comes out," Webb said. "Especially with a show like this that was designed to travel around and see all the different areas and the different cultures within Japan."
Other preparations for the evening included members of Japan Club sewing all of the traditional clothes used in the performances. Hatsumi Hosoya was in charge of the fashion show, which showcased the many different styles.
"It's very difficult to collect traditional Japanese clothing," Senju said.
This was the first time Japan Night sold out. Senju said most of the students this year had little or no experience with putting together an event of this size and were happy with the result.
"It worked really well, even though we had almost all new students and we had no experience. Next year will be really really better," Senju said.
Japan Club members are already talking about next year's event.
"We've got some stuff going, but nothing we can talk about now," Webb said. "It'll be bigger and better than last year, we can guarantee that."
During the planning stages of this year's event. Japan Club Vice President Satoru Goto wanted to make sure the evening's focus wasn't only on entertainment.
"If you make it only fun you ignore half of it," Goto said.
Goto and the other members decided to include the story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who suffered from radiation poisoning after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, in order to bring to light this more serious subject.
"Some people thought it would be offensive to include the number of people that died," he said. "It's not offensive, it's a fact. It's a scientific number."
"Japan was the first and last place a nuclear bomb was dropped," Goto said. "It's an important part of our history."
Goto said he was very pleased with the crowd's response to Sasaki's story.
"We were very surprised and pleased that the audience applauded after they presented the message of peace. (We) didn't expect a standing ovation," Goto said.
Another collaborator from the evening was co-emcee Rafael Lourenco, a student from Brazil.
"There's a huge Japanese population in Brazil. After World War II there was a huge immigration wave. I have some friends who are Japanese descendants in Brazil so that's the connection I had. And then when I came here I got to know a lot about Japan Club," Lourenco said.
Lourenco said that there is definitely something everyone can learn from experiences with different cultures.
"The most interesting thing is to see how different cultures have so many idiosyncrasies. I think Brazilian culture is very similar to American culture in a way because we're both Western. I think we're more laid back, more informal in a way," Lourenco said. "The thing about Japanese culture is that everything is so formal, everything is so structured. It's almost like there is a ritual for everything."
"I think every experience is rewarding," Lourenco said. "That's my personal opinion. I like being around different people, different cultures ... whatever positive thing you can take from it."
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