Raquel Tarancón Sánchez, CJL
(photo by author)
On the 24th of June the “Learn traditional dance & try on a yukata! ICC Japanese Culture Event” was held by ICC and blew away my expectations. I was not expecting that they would have one yukata for each person who attended the event. Every yukata was beautifully placed at the entrance, and in each chair, they had a beautiful variety of obi. In my case, I arrived a bit late, but that led me to choose a wonderful, red-colored yukata with an amazing dark obi.
After the event presentation, three girls from “Wakamono Kimono-kai,” which is one of the Waseda official circles, taught us with a video and a live explanation of how to put on the yukata. Honestly, I was terrified because I had never tried it before, and I’m terrible at these things. But not only was the explanation very easy to understand, but the staff members also helped me very kindly when I had any trouble (I didn’t even need to ask, they just knew!). Before I could even notice, the yukata was completed and looked amazing. I was so happy that I didn’t mess it up, and I will always be very thankful for the girls that explained it and the staff members who helped us.
Also, as a very shy person, talking with people in Japanese is very hard for me. But, during the yukata event, this was not difficult. Everyone was so nice, and I was able to meet wonderful people. If you are learning Japanese, this kind of event is perfect for practice. Some people are native speakers, and they are always willing to have a conversation. Also, the explanations of the staff members are both in Japanese and English so you can practice both languages here.
After putting on the yukata, a professional dancer taught us very kindly the dance to the traditional song「桜」(Sakura) and a 盆踊り(Bon Odori, a dance). The explanation was well done, and we could learn the dance very quickly. Everyone was a fast learner. They even gave us folding fans so we could practice the dance with them. They were beautiful and wearing the yukata while dancing to the Sakura song was not hard, it was relaxing. The Bon Odori was really fun to do, and I think most of the people were smiling while having a great time. It felt like we were dancing in the August Bon festival for real!
One of the things I liked was that they gave us space to take pictures with the yukata. We had plenty of time and, when I was trying to take a selfie, one of the staff members saw me and kindly took the picture I posted here. I was so happy to be able to have a full-length picture! During the photo shoot I could meet some friends I knew from online classes. And I could take pictures with my new friends and some old friends. Everyone looked so good in the colorful yukata!
Overall, it was a wonderful event, and I was impressed to see the professionalism of the ICC. If you have the chance, I recommend going to one of these events!
