Visit to Manga Exhibition and Embassy of Japan
by Poppy Quinn 7Y & Natalie Ng 7S
On Thursday 20th June a group of 34 excited members of Japanese Club took a trip to London, where they explored the culture of Japan.
Despite the train strike we made it to Waterloo. Firstly we discovered the fantastic art of Manga (style of Japanese comic books and graphic novels). In the exhibition, there were many creative activities including dress up and a manga library. Even the teachers took part! Who knew they would ever see Pikachu Panons come to life!
After the Manga Exhibition which runs until 26 August, we took the underground to Green Park, where we enjoyed a delicious variety of Japanese foods including sushi as we sat in a gorgeous park. The Japanese Embassy was in the distance, a massive building partly decorated with a swaying Japanese flag.
After our lunch we went into the Japanese Embassy and went through the airport style security. We entered into a room, decorated with the previous winners of a Manga competition which is now open for entries for its 13th edition with a deadline of 5pm on the 5th November 2019: Manga Jiman.
The toilet in the Embassy was very high tech and had buttons on it and luckily a basic translation of what each function did. In the ballroom we were given a presentation introducing Japan and the Embassy has very kindly let us use this as the basis for our Capital Cultural Assembly on Japan.
We did two activities, calligraphy and dancing. Calligraphy is called shodo in Japanese and is based on the writing system from China. The dance we did is called yosakoi which is a modern take on a traditional dance based on rural life in Japan including the movements of farming and fishing.
Arigato gozaimasu to the British Museum and Club Taishikan at the Embassy of Japan for letting us come and visit and preparing the exhibitions and activities for us. We had a fantastic time.
