香蕉视频

香蕉视频’s Quad came alive as the 香蕉视频 Japanese Student Association (SUJSA) hosted its 5th Annual Obon Festival, a celebration of Japanese culture, tradition and community. The festive event was replete with joy and an abundance of food, live performances, games and more.

This year’s theme, 碍艒蹿耻办耻—meaning “happiness” in Japanese—was inspired by the lily of the valley flower, which symbolizes the return of joy. The event invited attendees to reflect on small moments of connection and celebration that bring comfort and meaning.

The university’s Obon celebration began as a spring tradition once called Harumatsuri. Renamed in 2021, the event has grown into a cornerstone cultural festival on campus. For the 2025 celebration, more than 50 students organized and ran the event across committees focused on food, games, decorations and dance.

“It was such an honor to serve as co-chair of Obon this year, alongside Emma Arita,” says nursing student Vicky Chen, ’27. “Seeing our ideas come to life with the help of our amazing committee leads and volunteers was incredibly rewarding. One of the most meaningful parts for me was seeing how the event brought people together, not just to celebrate Japanese culture, but also to build community and create space for learning and appreciation across all backgrounds.”

The festival opened with a traditional blessing from Reverend Taijo Imanaka from the Seattle Koyasan Buddhist Temple. Then the event got into full swing with a variety of activities such as classic Japanese games like Shuriken Throw, Kingyo Sukui, Bucket Toss and Lollipop Pull, keeping attendees engaged with the game booths. There were also opportunities for paper-lantern making, omamori origami and bracelet crafting. A popular attraction was a photobooth featuring life-sized cutouts of beloved Studio Ghibli animated characters like Totoro and Catbus.

Attendees who worked up an appetite didn’t need to look far for some authentic Japanese comfort foods such as chicken yakitori, spam onigiri, miso soup, somen salad and andagi.

As the evening progressed, the Quad lit up with vibrant performances. The energy soared during the powerful drumming set by Hidaka Taiko, followed by music from Kaede Band and Rhythmix. One of the most memorable moments of the night came when attendees gathered around the fountain for the Bon Odori dances. Led by Patrick Oiye of Northwest Minyo Kai, everyone was invited to join in learning two traditional routines. The first, “Hokkai Bon Uta,” is a folk dance from Hokkaido that was rearranged into the version familiar today. The second, “Ei Ja Nai Ka,” is a lively dance known for its exaggerated movements, expressing a joyful, silly spirit and encouraging everyone to let loose. Together, these dances created a shared moment of rhythm, laughter and connection under the evening sky.

“For Obon, I was impressed because the scale of the festival is much larger and beyond the Japanese Student Association, ” says Kotaro Miwa, ’26 (business management), an exchange student from Sophia University who also worked on the event. “So many communities joined us and I feel synergistic power for this event. Overall, it was a truly meaningful experience to work together as a team, accomplishing our goals as one.”

“The people were my favorite part—the welcoming community was so nice and refreshing since it’s my first year doing Obon,” says Kirsten Angeles, ’27 (business & aw), who volunteered on the decorations team. “They definitely made staying up late throughout workshop week worth it and 100-times more fun.”

From start to finish, the Obon Festival was a reminder of the power of student spirit and cultural storytelling. With every performance, activity and conversation, the event offered not just entertainment, but a space for connection, joy and reflection.