The Pulse: Sensei-Tional Japanese Festival

The Japanese Club began its year as soon as school started in September. While the newcomers were learning the ropes, the officers were busy at work planning the events for the upcoming year. The first priority was the Japanese Festival. Booths needed to be thought of, food needed to be purchased, and layouts needed to be designed. Moreover, every year something new and exciting is needed in order to promote attention. Finally, after weeks of thought, the club came up with ancient cultural activities, such as meditation and fortune telling, in addition to modern attractions such as Dance Revolution and Pokemon.

As people entered the student lobby, Japanese lanterns and signs surrounded them, truly giving them the feeling of being in a Japanese community. Freshman Bryan Mashioff said, "I love the lanterns, I want one for my room." Too bad for him; they were not for sale. However, one could purchase Pokemon accessories, including pens, calculators, and stickers at the Pokemon booth. Japanimation is used to create the characters that are so popular among many children and teens. Dance revolution is also popular among many teens. This Japanese game show has been brought into the home by Sony Play Station. "Watching people dance from the computer thing was interesting," said junior Kara Schulman. From the beginner to the expert, energy was up at the Dance Revolution booth. The other video games were also very popular, as students fought for the title in games such as Tekken.

Ancient Japan was also integrated into the festival. Meditation, led by senior Paul Bozzello, provided a relaxing and renewing experience. Students were given a brief explanation of the history of meditation and then actually meditated to the sounds of the ocean. Origami, the Japanese art of paper folding was also popular among many students. Throughout the day, art could be seen on the hands and faces of students walking around the school.

Japanese characters, known as Kanji, were painted on all who wanted strength, wisdom, and love in their lives. People could also be seen wearing sumo costumes and kimonos, which were available to try on to have photographs taken. No Japanese festival could be complete without sushi. California and cucumber rolls were sold straight out of a Sushi boat, and said to be "yummy" by all. Finally, for the third year, Japanese trivia was conducted by Rohit Barman a.k.a. Baruma. His voice was known throughout the student lobby.

This year's Japanese Festival was one of the best yet, with only better ones to come. However, the future of the Japanese festival, can only be predicted by Syosset High School's own, world renowned fortuneteller, Lisa Poggiali. And what is her prediction? Well, come to next years festival and find out.