Japanese Festival in Taiwan 2011

Japanese are grateful people. After the 311 earthquake, every Japanese I met in Taipei thanked Taiwan for being a generous country to donate over 20 billion Japanese yen to the victims in Japan. Taiwan and Japan are neighbors. Neighbors come to the rescue faster than the relatives at far in the global village.

The Annual Japanese Festival in Taiwan takes place in December at the Shingkong Mitsukoshi Hsin-yi Plaza. The 9th Japanese Festival attracted more than 26 teams of 296 performers from all over Japan Saturday and Sunday.

Among all exciting groups of the Japanese Festival 2011, I like Wase Glee the most. They were a group of two dozen male singers from Waseda University. The Wase Glee was formed in 1907 to sing Waseda school songs. The male-only chorus in white jackets and bow neckties demonstrated the power and vitality of Japanese youth. I was lucky to be all ears to their beautiful voices on their first concert tour in Taiwan.

The Japanese Dance Group Sobu-Ryu (日本舞踴創舞流)--The Seijo International Japanese Dance Group(成城國際舞踴団) wowed the Taiwanese audience. Vice Leader Sobu Kichinojo was patient and gentle in guiding the elementary school kids to perform traditional Japanese dance on stage. I saw the performance of the Master Sobu Kichinojo at a closer distance. The Seijo Dance Group came to Taiwan for the first time. I was lucky to see the early training of Japanese dancers at young age.

Hiroyuki Kurosawa 黑澤博幸, Soul & Beat Unit Ten-chi-jin, won a big round of applause from the audience after his performance of Tsugaru-Shamisen (津軽三味線). Kurosawa san is from Aomori prefecture, the epicenture of the 311 earthquake. He expressed his appreciation for Taiwanese people for the immediate response to rescue to rebuild Japan from the unfortunate diaster in March.

The Kurashiki Fashion College Fashion Show was eyes opening. Within 20 minutes, I saw more than 100 designer made outfits from Avant-garde to traditionals. I particularly love students' creative designs with Denim. It was the first time I knew that Kurashiki was the birthplace of Japanese denim.

I look forward to the Japanese Festival in Taiwan 2012 in December and I shall catch up the Hula dance performance I missed this year!