By Giselle Lee | Staff Writer
Students and members of the Waco community braved the sudden wind and chill to celebrate the Japanese Spring Festival, Harumatsuri, Friday night.
The Harumatsuri festival featured traditional games, crafts and food stalls, as well as traditional performances by Dondoko Taiko, Central Texas Chado, Baylor Byakuya, Baylor Kendo and Ryukyu Damashii. The evening ended with a raffle, giving attendees who completed the activities across all booths a chance to win prizes.
The event was hosted by the Japanese Student Association, with collaborative efforts by Baylor Student Government, Baylor’s Department of Multicultural Affairs, Asian Leaders Network Waco and various other sponsor organizations.
Mililani, Hawaii, senior and Harumatsuri Coordinator Elliott Fujinami said the event had been in the works since last summer. Fujinami said the organization has been more intentional in creating events that “authentically teach Japanese culture” to the Baylor and Waco community.
“We put a lot of time in making the atmosphere as close to Japanese culture as possible,” Fujinami said. “That includes the stage, the paper lanterns hanging all around and all these Japanese activities … Those are all traditional festival activities they do in Japan. I’m just excited to see everyone kind of having fun and interacting with everything to feel the Japanese vibes.”
Chicago senior and Haramatsuri Board Member Lauren Huebner said she joined the Japanese Student Association to help her friends, but enjoyed helping and planning this year because of the event’s larger scale.
“We used to do this event during the day on a Saturday in the morning, and not a lot of people showed up,” Huebner said. “Now we’re on Fountain Mall, and there’s a lot of people who can see and hear it.”
Huebner said it is important to have large-scale cultural events in large, open spaces so they pique the interest of those passing by.
“A lot of people that come here, they think it seems cool and come check it out, and then they might end up enjoying it,” Huebner said. “It’s nice to see the Japanese Student Association grow, especially because it changes how we host this event.”
Fujinami, a second-generation Japanese American, said that Hawaii’s diverse culture motivated him to find community at Baylor through the Japanese Student Association, which he hoped would bridge cultural understanding gaps in Waco.
“I wanted to share it with Waco community, where Japanese culture is not too prominent,” Fujinami said. “People know Japanese culture, but I feel like it’s in a superficial way, like anime or pop culture. I think in these types of events, we’re able to dive deeper into what counts as authentic Japanese culture.”
El Dorado Hills, Calif., freshman Yati Hlaing, who found the event through the Japanese Student Association’s Instagram, said she enjoyed the cultural activities, including painting. Hlaing echoed what Fujinami and Huebner said about the cruciality of sharing authentic culture.
“I think it’s important that we learn about different cultures and learn about diversity,” Hlaing said. “I learned a lot of games associated with Japanese culture, and I think that’s cool; the performances have been really cool, too. I just think it’s important to learn about each other because there’s so many of us on campus and we’re all different.”
Asheville, N.C., freshman Lauryn Ricco said she liked origami because she grew up doing it for fun.
“It was fun to see, like, a lot of people making their own origami with all the colorful paper,” Ricco said.
Ricco, who attended with Hlaing, mentioned how important it is to learn about one another to start conversations about culture.
“You never really know about something if you aren’t immersed in it or if you never try it,” Ricco said. “I think it’s important to show students that there’s more than the one culture that they were raised in and get to experience just different things than what we’re used to.”
