This past weekend, April 25th, was the 14th annual Japan Festival at KSU. As in years past, it was an exciting opportunity for KSU students and members of the Japanese community in Manhattan to share their culture through song, dance, food and various other performance. We even got to reunite with some past Yosakoi alumni, including Yasu, who came back to perform his magic tricks for the show!
We did two performances, the first of which was in Forum Hall. Soran Illusion and Net de Yosakoi were both big crowd-pleasers; Yosakoi got to share the stage here with KU’s Eisa group, Kuniko the storyteller and the Ki Daiko taiko group from Olathe. Later we performed Soran Bushi in the courtyard, and also debuted our new blue happis. The color really stood out and complimented our performance of a fisherman’s dance.
Several members said that this was the most fun festival they can remember performing in, and for several other memebers, this was their first opportunity to both participate in and see the KSU festival. After a long day of practice and performances, we met other performers and organizing groups at the International Student Center for food and a raffle giveaway. It was great to reunite with past Yosakoi members and see all of our hard work pay off with a well-received performance.
K-State Yosakoi 