Bringing Japanese culture to Attallah Piazza

Photo Courtesy of Jayden Ramirez

Members of one Chapman club saw the culmination of almost a year of planning and hard work on March 7 when the Nikkei Student Union (NSU) hosted its inaugural Culture Night in Attallah Piazza, showcasing five cultural performances.

“Nikkei” refers to members of the Japanese diaspora, with NSU serving both Japanese and Japanese-American students on campus as well as anyone interested in Japanese culture. Other Nikkei Student Unions at California universities have held cultural nights for decades, so the board members made the decision to bring the event to Chapman.

Four emcees from NSU board introduced the event and its theme, “wakachiai” (sharing), with two reading an English script and two providing a Japanese translation.

“(Wakachiai represents) sharing stories, sharing space, sharing culture and sharing community,” said Fumiya Shinagawa, senior computer science and data science double major and co-president of NSU.

Junior health science major Kiyomi Petersen taught two of the dances: “nihon buyo,” a classical Japanese dance featuring elegant storytelling, and “soran bushi,” a folk dance from Hokkaido mimicking the moves of fishermen. She has been studying under prominent teachers for over a decade, following in the footsteps of her mother.

“My mom was, and still is, a dancer,” Petersen said. “I inherited everything from her.”

Soran bushi was loud and powerful, with actions including the pulling of fisherman’s nets to highlight hard work and perseverance.

On the other hand, nihon buyo highlighted stoicism and grace. Wearing yukata (a type of kimono) and holding fans and cherry blossom branches as props, the performers were reminiscent of the movements of cherry trees while keeping their faces expressionless.

Petersen explained that the nihon buyo piece, “Sakura Ondo,” was choreographed by her mother’s teacher, Bando Mitsusa, making it all the more special for Petersen to share it at Culture Night.

“Nihon buyo is a dying art form, even in Japan, so being able to share my love for it through the people that participated and the people that got to watch the performance was really exciting,” said Petersen.

Suzie Oyama, sophomore strategic communication major and cultural consultant of NSU, performed in nihon buyo and soran bushi.

“It was kind of surreal, because growing up, I didn’t really get to show my culture a lot, so being able to perform in front of my family and friends was really cool,” Oyama said.

Despite the spotlight on traditional Japanese dance, NSU members also performed in NSU Modern, a hip-hop dance choreographed to a mashup of popular songs by sophomore pharmacy student Michelle Swe. Audience members cheered during exciting dance sequences and sang along to songs by PinkPantheress, Lil Tecca and more.

Also performing was Seishun Taiko, a collegiate drumming ensemble connected to the Orange County Buddhist Church, with many members being Chapman students. Their set was fun and upbeat, relying on each other and the crowd to maintain a high level of energy. When freshman health sciences major Reina Yee and junior business administration major Samantha Strand had solo parts, the other performers hyped them up through synchronized choreography.

In the last performance of the night, “bon odori,” audience members were invited onstage to dance alongside NSU. Usually performed during Japanese Obon festivals, bon odori is a folk dance bringing together communities to dance in a circle with repetitive, easy-to-follow movements, highlighting the theme of wakachiai.

As NSU’s board members attested to, Culture Night involved immense preparation. Performers met multiple times a week to rehearse, and board members had to start from scratch in figuring out how to pull off such a large event for the first time.

“This being the first Culture Night was a little bit hard, and there were a lot of things we had to work around,” Oyama said. “But it was fun because we got to see the fruition of our hard work.”

Despite some logistical hurdles and the raging Santa Ana winds complicating the performances, both NSU members and the broader Chapman community were able to come together in a celebration of Japanese culture.

“Our executive board and general members have poured their time, energy and heart into building this night from the ground up,” said senior integrated educational studies major Malia Matsuura, who serves as NSU’s external vice president. “This has truly been a labor of love.”