By: Muziah Kargbo
Club Board:
President: Sara Cook
Vice President: Junqi Zhang
Treasurer: Ian Dewars
Event Coordinators: Trinity Battle and Catherine Williamson
Secretary: Jasmine Akoto
Social Links: Instagram: @uncjapanclub | Facebook: UNC-CH Japan Club | Japan Club Heel Life
Last week, I was able to interview Japan Club during their Game Night Event on Thursday at the Student Union. The whole team participated in the interview adding their own say in the questions that were asked including some personal experiences. Unfortunately, I couldn’t transcribe everything but here are the highlights that you need to know.
Q1: What is the purpose of this club?
Sara: The purpose of Japan club is to provide a safe space for anyone interested in learning about Japanese culture or those who are interested in Japan in general.
Jasmine: I didn’t really have a group to talk about my interest in Japan, so this group helps me learn more about Japan with people that have similar interests as me.
Catherine: Before I really came here, I was from a really small town and coming here to join a group that enjoys Japanese culture as much as I do is great.
Q2: What about Japanese culture interests you and why did you particularly join this club?
Catherine: I had a Japanese neighbor back in Texas and would go over to her house when I was 6 because we would watch anime together. I saw these female superheroes and thought that was so cool because I didn’t see anything like that back then. After that, I later grew to love the language and asked my friend’s mom to teach me a bit of Japanese but then I moved to North Carolina. So I started to self-study and got into more anime and music.
Jasmine: In middle school, I was one of those people who thought anime was weird and so I wasn’t interested in it until my friends introduced me to it around 8th grade. I thought anime music was beautiful so I got interested in learning the language. I wanted to take an online course at my school but they didn’t have it so I decided that I wanted to study abroad in college. Now, I definitely want to go on the Tokyo Summer Abroad program.
Q3: What are the usual activities of this club and what special activities do you do during the year?
Sara: We hold regular events every other week, usually presentations to present new Japanese culture or introduce studying abroad in Japan. We recently had a special guest, a professor in the linguistics department, who introduced the linguistics of Japanese. We also usually do nice study break near exam time to watch anime after club meetings sometimes, too.There is also the DC Trip to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival in the spring.
Q4: What do you hope for the future of this club?
Sara: I hope that Japan club survives long after I graduate while my short term goal is fundraising.
Q5: How do you become a member of this club?
Sara: Just come and talk to us! We meet every other Thursday at 7pm in the Student Union (Rm 2518). And you just have to pay $5 dues.
Photos from the Game Night (the Go Club joined too!)
