MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Shunan International Children’s Club groups performed at the Matthew C. Perry High School gym here, Feb. 11, 2013, for a culturesharing event.
This was the third time the club performed at the M.C. Perry High School.
“The school has done this for the past three years,”said Chris Kimmey, M.C. Perry elementary music teacher. “It’s always a great thing to bring Japanese culture to our students and have them engaged in it. I have only been here for two performances, but they are a wonderful group and it is great having them here.”
Kimmey also added that the groups who performed were beautiful and the performance of ‘It’s A Small World,’ really helped the kids relate to the music.
The event is meant to give the students a better understanding of Japanese culture, with performances such as traditional martial arts “Karate”, classical Japanese dance “Nihon-buyo”, a samurai dance, and various other skits and musical performances demonstrated by the club.
Masaki Ishikawa, Shinnanyo High School music teacher, said the reason he enjoys performing for Americans is because American children are honest, while Japanese children are more reserved and don’t express themselves as much as American children in regards to how they are feeling or if they liked something or not.
“Before we performed at the school, we came to perform at a culture festival on the base,” said Masaki. “Now we really enjoy performing for the children here. We always look forward to coming back and always hope that we will be invited again in the future.”
Ishikawa also added that he would like to return to M. C. Perry and continue building ties with Americans, saying music is a universal language we all speak and we are united though it.