Help?

[Ricki]

Last year my friend and I became co-presidents of thev Japanese Culture Club at our school; this year we've run out of ideas for meetings. Does anyone have any ideas for what we could talk about this year besides anime?

 

Some of last years meetings were:

Baseball

Yakuza

Sakura trees

Technology

Various myths

Various origami animals

[SheRocks]

Fetishes? No, okay. How about basic things you should know if you visit there. Such as things they would consider to be rude, but is okay in your culture. ie: sniffling or blowing your nose in public is supposed to be rude. Pointing at someone with your chopsticks is rude. Maybe others in the group know more.
Are there Japanese people in your school? Maybe you could have one as a guest speaker.

[Ricki]

I really like the rude idea, thanks. ^.^
The club sponsor lived in Japan for a year, but he's out doing things pretty much all during lunch. There's also a teacher who moved from Japan last year, so I may ask her.

[Bryan Rosander, FL]

Food
Holidays / celebrations
Pop-culture / idols
Ceremonies, especially marriage
Famous locations
Hot springs
Doujinshi / Comiket / Fan made games

[Ricki]

Thank you!

[Chibi Fox]

Yeah, I have this dilema sometimes as well with my school's Japanese Club (which I am also an officer for).
Definately talk about...
~J-Pop and idol groups (especially AKB 48 which just blows my mind)
~look into some of the different kinds of bread that they have there (Melon Bread, Curry Bread) and other food (Okonomiyaki, Curry Rice, Omrice)
~Department stores (1O9 [ichi maru kiyuu], Mitsukoshi)
~Bathrooms [sorry, I know it sounds bad but it's really interesting] (squattie potties, showers/bathtubs)

[spiderboenz]

history

[Sam C.]

I'd definitely go for some history. The Edo and Heian periods are especially interesting, and I'm sure the Shinsengumi would be an interesting lesson. Also, maybe make a meeting about something darker, like World War II or American internment camps. If you have a Japanese cultural club, it should be for understanding and appreciating all of a culture, it's good and its bad.