JapanNewbie

Gakusai

Posted on 17. Dec, 2004 @ 10:55 pm by harvey in Culture Views: 317

I took a trip down memory lane and went to the Nanzan University school festival (学祭 – がくさい).

These school festivals happen once a year I believe, and take place on a day when school would normally be out for a holiday. This particular festival happened on Wednesday the 3rd of November on Culture Day ( 文化の日 ). Have I neglected posting this entry for so long?!

I just happened to be in Nagoya, and when I was going around the town in the morning I noticed that a university was having a festival. This was Meijo University (名城大学). Nanzan, the university I at which I was an exchange student and really learned Japanese is also in Nagoya, so I decided to go over and see if they had something going on as well.

During these festivals, the different student groups plan events, set up booths to display art, shops to sell food. It’s hard to express how involved the students get in these festivals. When I was an exchange student at Nanzan I participated in an event with the photography club and sold chocolate mousse. We were really really 一所懸命 (isshokenmei) all day long, and when we finally sold the last cup, it was a celebration like we had won the super bowl or something. めっちゃ盛り上がってた. Massive celebration. Here are some pics of some of the things the students get into.

Picture heavy post huh. Sorry.

Also the Nanzan cheerleading squad was roaming around…

as well as some crazy boy-girls!

Gotta love the gakusai…

We had some events at Indiana University that could be considered somewhat close to the gakusai, but usually they are organized by a few key organizations, unlike the school-wide, once a year, Japanese gakusai.

Definitely a unique part of Japanese culture. I imagine some kids end up working harder in preparation for the gakusai than they do in their studies…

-Harvey

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