USU Japan Club meets for the first time since 2020

Many events had to disband temporarily since the coronavirus outbreak in spring 2020, and many of the Utah State University club activities were no exception — including the USU Japan club

The club is designed to help USU students meet together and learn more about Japanese culture through cultural activities and festivals.

In the past, they hosted activities like mochitsuki, a tradition where  rice is pounded to make mochi, a Japanese rice cake.

This event is usually held at the beginning of  the year as a way to hope for good luck throughout the rest of the year.

The Japanese club replicated this tradition from start to finish more than three years ago in March 2019.

In addition to activities for students, the club also invites everyone from Cache Valley to participate in their club meetings, even if they aren’t students of USU or affiliated with the college.

However, Japanese professors and students finally got together to bring back the club activity for their first meeting on March 18, where they made origami in the TSC.

They started by creating a group chat with members of the Japanese classes at USU but hope their following will grow on their Facebook account.

They reported around 25 participants in their origami activity  and hope to continue growing.

The acting president of the club who was born in Japan, Spencer Jensen,  explained why the revival of the club was significant for the people who attend.

“It’s almost part of their identity. Although they’re American, they have identified that they want to learn more about Japanese culture and they’ve made an effort to learn more about it,” Jensen said. “It’s really nice to see how people can be unified over a culture that isn’t inherently their own.”

Jensen said transfer students from Japan who attend USU are able to share their culture and their language with members of the club, building connections between the two cultures.

“There’s really no link between Logan, Utah and Japan. We’re hoping to create that link between cultures and help people gain a deeper understanding of that,” he said.

The USU Japan Club will continue to host meetings regularly for anyone in the Logan area who would like to learn more about Japanese culture.
Anyone interested in attending their meetings can visit their Facebook page, USU Japan Club, for more information.

-Ryker.Eggenberger@usu.edu

Photo from: USU Japan Club