People excitedly waited at the Martin Library’s entrance for their name to be written in Japanese, receive a stamp card and experience Japanese culture activities for Japan Day.
Japan Day is an opportunity for kids at Martin Library and UT Martin students to explore and integrate themselves with Japanese culture. It is an opportunity for students from Japan, who are studying Japanese or are interested in Japan to share what they know with the local community.
This semester for Japan Day, UT Martin had eight Takasaki City University of Economics exchange students visit for three weeks. The Takasaki City University of Economics is in the Gunma prefecture of Japan, which is a little above Tokyo prefecture, so these students traveled a long way from home to get opportunities from UT Martin.
Kyoko Hammond, the Japanese Language and Culture professor and Japanese Language and Culture Club’s advisor, and the students organized different Japanese cultural activities that the kids at the Martin Library could do. They planned four table activities everyone could enjoy, a prize at the end for completing these activities, and a children’s book reading for the end of the day.
This day was also opened to UT Martin students to visit and enjoy Japanese culture, “I have a pen pal from Japan. . . it’s nice to be integrated into the culture like this,” said UT Martin student Kaise Alexander. Students from UT Martin enjoyed the activities that surrounded the event by smiling, laughing, and interacting with the Japanese exchange students.
Japan Day was started by Kyoko Hammond, also known as Hammond Sensei, to allow Takasaki City University of Economics exchange students the opportunity to connect with her students. She discovered that the students could connect with the community by spreading Japanese culture to younger kids.
This event started more than five years ago when Takasaki City University of Economics students started to temporarily stay at UT Martin, and it didn’t initially happen only at Martin Library. Japan Day happened at the Soybean Festival during the fall semester and Martin Library during the spring semester. Hammond Sensei also said that they would sometimes have Japan Day at the UT Martin daycare.
UT Martin’s Japanese Language and Culture Club volunteered and also helped with the production of Japan Day. Japanese Language and Culture Club President AJ Boyd explained that Japan Day is a fun day for everyone to enjoy.
Mykendra Cozart, Vice President of the Japanese Language Culture Club, stated the reason for enjoying Japan Day, “I like being a part of helping kids learn, so to be able to show my interest to children, which is why I really like this day.”
First up for activities is Kendama, which is a wooden toy game about gentle nature and balance. When a person balances the red wooden ball on different areas of the wooden toy, or at least tries, they receive a stamp of completion and Japanese candy!
Next, there was a table teaching all sorts of different origami patterns. Two Japanese exchange students taught the different origami patterns where someone could come up to the table, choose their favorite color and a shape pattern they would like to know. Then the Takasaki City University of Economics students taught them how to create that shape, and after completion they got their second stamp out of four and received candy.
Another table surrounded a computer and was covered in all the candy one could receive after completing a Japanese Cultural Quiz! The Takasaki City University of Economics students quizzed UT Martin students and kids at the library on different aspects of Japanese culture. Both parties found lots of enjoyment while crowding the table to learn the terminology.
Fukuwarai is a Japanese children’s game that can be translated to “lucky laugh,” usually done on a lunar new year. There is a blank face drawn and features of the face are then pieces that a blindfolded person has to try to put in the correct places. Correct placement represents that the player was lucky and incorrect placement can make a person laugh. It’s a fun, interactive game where students and kids get rewarded with their last stamp of completion and Japanese snacks or candy!
This was the exciting part of the day where once all of the four table’s activities were completed a person could draw a number from a box that correlated to a bouncy ball on a chart. At the end of the day, some didn’t even have to complete all four activities since some activities were a bit busy. At the top of the chart, there were giant bouncy balls someone could get by drawing a number, this gave incentive for everyone, even UT Martin students and the exchange students, to try and draw a number.
Japan Day ended with reading a classical Japanese children’s book called “Nezumi no Yomeiri” which translates to “A Mouse’s Marriage.” The story unfolds about a mouse family wanting to find the perfect candidate for their outstanding mouse daughter, so they go on a hunt trying to find through nature the best thing for her to marry. In the end, the family found that mice are the strongest in the world and the best for their daughter to marry. The short story ended with children happy with their day and everyone seemed to enjoy getting a free bouncy ball with lots of candy and snacks along the way.
When asking Hammond Sensei what she enjoys about Japan Day, she talked about how the exchange students get to give back to the community after all the lessons and lectures they’ve been receiving. When asking her what Japan Day meant to her, Hammond Sensei replied, “It is special to me and an opportunity for me to meet others outside of campus and make those connections.”
