Date and Time:  Saturday, July 15, 2023   10:00 a.m.­­ − 11:30 a.m.

Venue:  Abiko Civic Plaza  Multi-Purpose Hall

Participants: 26 people (students and volunteer teachers)

In AIRA Japanese Class, lessons are usually given in small groups but on the last day of the first term all the students and teachers got together and held Otanoshimi-kai, a fun party, and had a great time. (No.23-9)

First of all, with Mr. Mashiko as the MC, everyone introduced themselves by talking about their favorite foods, hobbies, and so on.

Next was the game time.  They played three games; Karuta-tori, Fukuwarai and Fruit Basket.

Karuta-tori, a kind of card-grabbing game, was played in three groups.  The hall was filled with the sounds of table slapping and joyful cries.  The student who took the most got 17 cards.

Fukuwarai is played with a blank face and a set of facial features.  The blindfolded player tries to place the facial features in correct positions following the other people’s instructions like “More up!” “One centimeter more right!” “Upside down!”  On that day the faces of Okame and Hyottoko, female and male clowns in traditional Japanese dance, were used.

In Fruit Basket, players are seated on the chairs arranged in a big circle, except one player standing in the center.  Each of them has a small piece of paper with an illustration of a fruit on it.  When the player in the center calls out the name of a fruit, the players who have the fruit jump up and have to find a new seat.  There was laughter when someone missed a seat because of their slow movement or the players who had called out the fruit name couldn’t get a seat even though they have an advantage.  Everyone in the hall looked thrilled and amused.

(Translated by YAMAGUCHI Chizu)