Students and community members filled the Erb Memorial Union Ballroom on Sunday for Japan Night, put on by the Japanese Student Organization (JSO).
The evening’s activities commenced at 6 p.m. and included a Japanese meal, games, crafts, a haunted house and a variety show that presented the theme for the night, “Return of the Matsuri Festival,” referring to a traditional summer festival in Japan.
A large and diverse body of volunteers and performers supported the event.
Yujin Gakuen, the Japanese Immersion Program for Eugene public schools, was involved in many aspects of the celebration. Wearing traditional robes called yukatas, first graders charmed the audience with song and dance during the variety show, and North Eugene High School students in the Japanese Club ran carnival-style games and crafts.
“I love Japanese culture and I want to share it,” said volunteer Thunder Shiviah, a Japanese Immersion student at North Eugene High School. Shiviah was running a game booth with origami ninja stars and paper targets. Enjoying the games was six-year-old Yujin Gakuen student Erica Parisien, wearing a pastel pink yukata decorated with cartoon bunnies.
The Wushu Club, a University martial arts group, also performed in the variety show, impressing the audience with spectacular acrobatics. To the rhythm of high-energy techno music, club members kicked, leaped, and flipped across the stage, eliciting shouts and applause from the audience. Wushu is a Chinese martial art, but, according to announcer and JSO president Sayuri Satofuka, it has heavily influenced Japanese martial arts.
JSO member and event head Miho Uzunoe said preparations for the fair began at the start of the fall term, and volunteers spent the weekend decorating and cooking. “It was a community effort, not just Japanese students,” she said. For Uzunoe, this extended community also included her family from Portland, who came to Eugene this week to help her prepare hundreds of sweet Japanese pastries called ankomochi. The ankomochi joined other traditional Japanese foods in a boxed meal known as bento.
Japan night provided an opportunity for cultural exchange between Japanese exchange students, Japanese Americans, University and community Japanese language students and the community at large, event coordinators said.
“I’m interested in how American people look at Japan,” said University exchange student Mami Yoshino who, though not affiliated with JSO, spent her weekend volunteering for the event.
Community member Michael Gilbert had also attended Korea night and was drawn to Japan night by fliers posted around town. “This is a lot of fun,” he said. ” The haunted house was terrifying and the food was great. I’ll definitely come back next year.”
Molly Owen, decorations chair and sophomore Japanese major, expressed great excitement about the event.
“What I love about Japan is that it holds on to tradition, but is open to new things,” Owen said.
This aspect of Japan was expressed during the variety show. The presentation included themes of time travel and the clash between traditionalism and technology, beginning with a dramatic samurai battle and ending with a fashion show.
Owen touted the noticeable improvement in the organization of Japan night this year. “The different committees were better coordinated and there was a clearer chain of command,” she said.
The Japanese Student Organization meets every Tuesday at 6:30 in the EMU Fishbowl.