{"id":37576,"date":"2025-07-30T14:53:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T05:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/?p=37576"},"modified":"2025-08-22T17:13:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T08:13:57","slug":"two-hours-of-yukata-laughter-and-unexpected-friendships-%e3%80%90icc-japanese-traditional-dance-workshop-participant-report%e3%80%91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/news-en\/2025\/07\/30\/37576\/","title":{"rendered":"“Two Hours of Yukata, Laughter, and Unexpected Friendships” ICC Japanese Traditional Dance Workshop Participant Report\u3011"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u3000\u00a0 \u00a0Meng Yuan<\/span><\/span><\/strong>
\nCenter for Japanese Language (CJL)<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h6>\n

I recently joined \u201cTry on yukata & Join a Japanese dance workshop!\u201d Event hosted by Waseda University’s ICC, and let me tell you \u2014 it was two hours of joy wrapped in tradition.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To be honest, I was a bit nervous at first. It was my first ICC event, my Japanese isn’t great, and I didn\u2019t know anyone there. But the moment I arrived, the staff and volunteers welcomed me so warmly that my nerves melted away. One English-speaking volunteer helped me pick out a stylish yukata and even tied my obi belt.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

(photo by author)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then I discovered the kendama<\/span>\u00a0corner.\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019d never played before, but somehow I managed to pull off even the hardest trick after a few tries! Everyone around cheered and laughed together \u2014 it was a great way to bond with other students from different departments.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Next came the Japanese dance session. We learned a traditional dance called \u201cSakura\u201d from a beautiful kimono-clad instructor who guided us gently through each move with a fan in hand. Okay, I probably looked like a robot trying to dance, but honestly? I didn\u2019t care. It was so much fun!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking back, what made this event truly special wasn\u2019t just wearing a yukata or learning a new dance \u2014 it was the feeling of connection. Thanks to the ICC staff and volunteers, I didn\u2019t feel like a stranger. I felt like part of a community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So if you\u2019re reading this and still wondering whether to join an ICC event, here\u2019s my advice: do it. You don\u2019t need perfect Japanese, or a friend to go with. Just a little curiosity \u2014 and maybe a smile \u2014 is enough to start a wonderful experience.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

(photo by author)<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u3000\u00a0 \u00a0Meng Yuan Center for Japanese Language (CJL)\u00a0 I recently joined \u201cTry on yukata & Join a Japanese dance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":37623,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,97],"tags":[84,116],"class_list":["post-37576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","category-other-en","tag-culture-en","tag-event-report-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37576"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38126,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37576\/revisions\/38126"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}