LV Life

Japan Daisuki club shares culture

Members of the Japan Daisuki club use poster papers to make a Torii, a traditional Japanese gate found at the entrance of a Shinto shrine. The Torii will be used as a backdrop for the club’s event Friday, 7-5-3, an annual celebration of growth for children’s right of passage. In Japan, these numbers are considered lucky. Sophomores physics major Justine Alandy-Dy and anthropology major Richard Zepeda, graduate student Priscilla Ho and club president junior communications major Ayla Bobrove outline the design for the Torii. The club’s meetings are held from 7-8 p.m. every Tuesday in Modular Classroom 102. / photo by Jolene Nacapuy
Members of the Japan Daisuki club use poster papers to make a Torii, a traditional Japanese gate found at the entrance of a Shinto shrine. The Torii will be used as a backdrop for the club’s event Friday, 7-5-3, an annual celebration of growth for children’s right of passage. In Japan, these numbers are considered lucky. Sophomores physics major Justine Alandy-Dy and anthropology major Richard Zepeda, graduate student Priscilla Ho and club president junior communications major Ayla Bobrove outline the design for the Torii. The club’s meetings are held from 7-8 p.m. every Tuesday in Modular Classroom 102. / photo by Jolene Nacapuy

Celene Vargas
Arts Editor

The Japan Daisuki club is creating an environment to make international students feel welcomed while also striving to break Japanese stereotypes.

The club wants to make the Japanese culture accessible to the University of La Verne by holding events that share Japanese customs.

“We want to make international students feel comfortable so we do events for them, try to make them included in the campus,” senior international business and theater double major Alyssa Songco said. Songco is the treasurer and events coordinator for the club.

The club will host Shichi Go San Friday in the Campus Center Ballroom.

The event is meant to celebrate children who are of the ages 7, 5 and 3.

In Japan, the children dress up in traditional clothing and go to temples to pray for happiness and long life, club president Ayla Bobrove, junior communications major, said.

They will have arts and crafts, games and photo opportunities for the children.

“We’re inviting children from local schools to come experience what it would be like if they lived in Japan and had this holiday,” said junior business administration major and club member Melanie Browdy.

Browdy joined the club after her roommate expressed interest and stopped by their booth during the club fair at the beginning of the semester.

“I was really attracted to their mission statement, which was to change the stereotype of what Japanese culture is like,” Browdy said.

Japan Daisuki, which Songco said roughly translates to “I very much like Japan,” started after the old Japanese club went on a hiatus and Bobrove wanted to bring back something similar.

“I know that when people think of Japanese culture, they usually think of anime and they think anime is the definition of Japan,” Bobrove said.

“I want to show people it’s not just anime, it’s about so much more than that.”

The club is open to anyone who wants to join. They have connected with the Latino Student Forum and the Inter­national Student Organization to start doing events with them.

“We have a lot of different people in our club,” Songco said. “We encourage that because we think for a Japanese culture club, it’s not only important for them to understand the Japanese culture, but also it’s good for us to understand the other cultures around the campus.”

Japan Daisuki is bridging the gap between the traditional and the modern.

While they want to focus on what the culture is like right now for young people, they still like to incorporate historical aspects in the club.

“In order to explain what’s going on in Japan now, we have to incorporate the tradition as well,” Bobrove said.

“Of course, we are focused on tradition as well, but not so traditional to the point where it’s old.”

One way they do this is by having a Japanese word of the day at each club meeting where the meaning and its origin is explained.

Songco said a lot of Japanese words have deeper meanings to them, and the club wants to try to help the members learn the language.

Bobrove usually comes up with them. She tries to use words that are connected to an event they are working on.

For example, they used the Japanese word for children, “kodomo,” at one of their recent club meetings for the Shichi Go San event.

The club has plans to do more events during the spring semester when more Japanese holidays and events happen.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the club grow, seeing where we can take it,” Browdy said.

Some activities they are trying to plan for are for Children’s Day, which celebrates children of all ages, Boys’ Day, Girls’ Day and Valentine’s Day.

Japanese Daisuki meets at 8 p.m. Tuesdays in Modular Classroom 102.

Celene Vargas can be reached at celene.vargas@laverne.edu.

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