An afternoon at the Japanese Embassy in London introduced modern language students to new aspects of Japanese culture and improved their character writing skills.
Club Taishikan takes its name from the Japanese word for embassy and runs a series of weekly workshops on everything from origami and calligraphy to traditional dress and dancing.
Students following the Japanese Certificate and GCSE courses at Barton Peveril discovered more about Japan’s love of Yosakoi Soran and learned a short dance using wooden clappers (naruko). Yosakoi-style dancing is an energetic combination of traditional dance movements with modern music first introduced in 1954.
The group also had an opportunity to wear yukata (summer kimonos) and happi coats, once practical garments but now usually worn to festivals or other special occasions.
