Sarah Gilbert / The Collegian

Amerasia show featuring Japanese culture reduced to three acts, president OK

The second night of Amerasia Week, which was dedicated to the Japanese culture, began with a ride to the emergency room for the Japanese Student Association (JSA) president Mamie Tsuda Thursday evening.

Thursday’s production, hosted by the JSA, was billed as being a two-hour showcase of six Japanese acts that included dance, music and stage combat, but was reduced to just three performances due to the injury of the club’s president, who fell off the stage during pre-show rehearsals.

Fresno City and State students ‘band’ together

The event began 20 minutes late and lasted just under an hour. The JSA band, lead by director Satoshi Watanabe, started the evening with Japanese contemporary pop music. The band is made up of music majors who volunteered for the event. Watanabe said that his band practiced once a week for two hours over the last month and it took dedication from each member to make the music true to the culture̢۪s heritage.

“It was hard to maintain the band and keep them all at the same level,â€Â Watanabe said. “But we worked hard and I think we did a great job.

Jai Cha, 20, a student at Fresno City College, sang with the band and said his song was based off of a Japanese love poem. He will be graduating from the junior college this semester and said that participating in JSA has been a great experience.

“Since it was my last year with JSA, I wanted to pick a special piece and leave my mark on the production,â€Â Cha said. “I think I did that.â€Â

Cha also directed the choir, which performed a piece called, “Tsubute,â€Â that was arranged and composed by Harada Keichi. Its members were made up of both Fresno State and Fresno City College students, but all were members of JSA.

Sarah Gilbert / The Collegian

The third and final act of the evening was “Rock Soran,â€Â which was described as one of JSA’s most revered performances. The dance was made up of seven men and three women and depicted Japanese fishermen hard at work, miming such things as reeling in the nets and moving the fish.

“We’ve danced Soran for five years,â€Â Watanabe said. “It’s a kind of a Japanese tradition and we want to keep it alive forever.â€Â

Celebrating differences, embracing unity

Asian-American Studies was first created at Fresno State by Professor Izumi Taniguchi in 1970. Two of his students then decided to create a week where Asian-American students could get together to celebrate and share their heritage with others.

This has continued at the university for more than three decades. It also promotes higher education and the club has hopes of starting a college fund for future members to continue their education on higher levels.

Vong Yang, 20, a graphic design major, is a member of JSA and said that the theme of the weeklong celebration is to bring all the different Asian cultures together and share their different heritages with others.

“We try to get the greater community to view the show and to see what Asian-Americans are like,â€Â Yang said. “We want to show the stories behind each culture.â€Â

The participants ended the evening with a curtain call where they danced and clapped to music. Amerasia Week also hosted two other nights dedicated to Hmong and Laotian heritages. The Collegian contacted members of JSA who reported that their president, Tsuda, was doing fine and was able to attend the final event of Amerasia Week Festival Saturday evening.