Weekend jn
Preview
The following is a brief guide to
weekend events. Please call venues for \
more information.
CONCERTS:
Brass Rail, 1436 O St.
Friday: Baby Jason and the Spankers
Saturday: Shaking Tree
Duffy's Tavern, 1412 OSt
Sunday: American Mars, Crush the
Clown
Duggan's Pub, 440 S. 11th St
Friday and Saturday: Blue House
Guitars & Cadillacs, 5400 OSt
Friday: High Caliber
Saturday: Zwarte
Knickerbockers, 901 U St
Friday: Rets in, Eric The Red, Bright Eyes
Saturday: Echo Farm, The Incontinentals
Lied Center for Performing Arts, 301 V.
12th St |
Friday: St. Petersburg Philharmonic
Orchestra
Zoo Bar, 136 A'. 14th St
Friday afternoon: The Fab-Tones
Friday and Saturday evening: Can be
THEATER:
Lincoln Community Play house, 2500 S.
56th St
Friday, Saturday and Sunday: “Big
River”
Mary Riepma Ross Film Theater, 12th
& R streets
Friday. Saturday and Sunday: “Smoke
Signals”
Star City Dinner Theatre, 803 QSt
Suite 100
Friday, Saturday and Sunday: “Little L
Shop Of Horrors”
UNL Department of Theatre Arts,
Temple Building, 12th and R streets
Friday and Saturday: “Waiting for
Godot”
. . , Dawn Dietrich/DN
MIKA KUDL, a senior sociology major, beats on the drums during the Japan Festival Thursday evening. The
festival celebrated Japanese culture with music, food and dance.
Japanese
students share
their culture
By Dane Stickney
Staff Writer
The Nebraska Union proudly dis
played the gleaming colors of red and
white to a mob of excited students
Thursday night.
But instead of focusing on Husker
football, the event was celebrating a cul
ture on the other side of the world.
The eighth-annual Japan Festival was
held m the Nebraska Union’s Centennial
Room. The highlight of the daylong cele
bration was the Autumn Festival, spon
sored by the Global Fnends of Japan.
Starting a little after 6 p.m., a
dance exhibition kicked off the
activities, which drew a widely
diverse crowd of about 150 people.
Spectators sampled traditional
Japanese food while watching university
students perform the ancient Bon Dance,
which eventually consumed most of the .
crowd.
Mika Kudl, a senior sociology major,
was one of the featured dancers.
“The Bon Dance is a dance that honors
the dead,” she said. “It is a way to worship
our ancestors.”
Kudl said the Bon Dance is common at
seasonal Japanese Festivals. It combines
fluid movements with the distinct beat of
;aiko drums.
The dancers wore yukatas, which Kudl
described as casual kimonos. The yukatas
ire decorated with floral patterns and large
:olorfiil sashes.
“A festival like this is usually held in the
summer,” Kudl said. “The festival provides
i way to escape the heat and humidity.”
According to Kudl, it is usually celebrat
ed with cool drinks, breezy clothes and dur
ng the twilight hours of hot summer days.
But the Global Friends of Japan decided
:o move the festival to autumn to commem
brate the anniversary of the donation of the
ICawasaki Reading Room m Oldfather Hall.
Kawasaki donated money and resources
:o establish the room for a Japanese studies
:enter in 1992.
Kudl, a native of Tokyo, said the festival
cindled memories of her homeland.
“It feels awkward to hear the music and
Jo the dance without being in Japan,” she
said.
The spectators lined up to taste authen
:ic Japanese food like teriyaki chicken, rice
balls and noodles.
The most popular dish was the hand
nade sushi. People queued around Tadashi
Vlizusaki to watch him make the classic
fapanese treat.
Mizusaki, an anthropology and museum
studies graduate student, first packed
soaked rice into seaweed to create a shell,
fie then packed the shell with crab, cucum
ber and avocado.
“I worked in a sushi restaurant in San
Francisco for a year, so I have a pretty good
idea of what I am doing,” he said.
Mizusaki is a native of Sapporo, Japan.
He has twice been in the United States for a
total of almost five years.
“I hope that everybody enjoys the festi
val,” he said. “I hope they got a positive feel
for the Japanese culture.
“This festival is mainly for the people in
the United States. It is meant to be an exam
ple of traditional Japanese celebration.”
Another popular activity of the festival
was the calligraphy booth, which show
cased the art of traditional Japanese hand
writing.
Freshman business major Izumi Jinnai
explained that the calligraphy is called
Syodo in its native language and is an inte
gral part of the Japanese culture.
“We learn how to write like thus in ele
mentary school,” she said. “It must be per
fect.”
The art of Syodo is taken very seriously
in Japan, and lazy or sloppy craftsmanship
is not accepted, she said.
Jinnai said that Syodo consists of a 51
syllable alphabet. The main spiritual func
tion of Syodo is to record dreams.
Jinnai, a native of Tokyo, said she plans
to graduate with a business degree and
return to Japan, where she hopes to work in
the electronics field.
Jinnai thought the festival was very suc
cessful.
“I think that we have done a good job of
introducing the Japanese culture to the uni
versity.
“The dancing is traditional, and the food
is very authentic. It feels almost like home.”