In February 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed into
action Executive Order 9066, calling for the immediate relocation
of Japanese Americans into internment camps in response to the
attack on Pearl Harbor. Now, more than half a century later,
Japanese American students in the Nikkei Student Union at UCLA use
the anniversary of this dubious event to both celebrate their
culture and build community understanding to avoid similar
mistakes. The NSU’s 19th annual Cultural Night festival will
take place on Feb. 21 in Royce Hall.
“Cultural Night isn’t just about getting out the
issues, but it’s about reaching out to all people and to
advocate them to go back into their own communities and to get
involved,” said Carolyn Chan, director of the cultural
night.
The show itself is structured around various dramatic and
musical presentations. Among them is Taiko, a form of traditional
Japanese drumming. An ancient relic of Japanese culture that
continues to be practiced to this day, Taiko literally means
“drum” in Japanese. The booming drumming was used in
Japanese culture to bring rain and drive away pests in hopes of
bringing a good harvest, in addition to having a variety of other
religious and military uses in Japanese culture.
UCLA’s Kyodo Taiko group, founded in 1990, was actually
the first collegiate Taiko group and continues to be present every
year in the NSU’s Cultural Night. Other events at Cultural
Night include Odori, a type of traditional Japanese dance, and a
hip hop performance by the NSU Modern group.
“Hip hop and NSU Modern give people who aren’t
involved in the more traditional parts of Cultural Night a way to
get their voices heard as well,” Chan said.
Other members concur with the significance of NSU Modern.
“It’s really a great way to appeal to people our age
as opposed to lecturing about the issues. People are attracted to
things that they can see and watch beyond someone just
talking,” said Jamie Hashimoto, a second-year psychology
student who will be dancing in the NSU Modern presentation.
But Cultural Night isn’t solely about entertainment.
“While there is an entertainment aspect to Cultural Night,
there is also a very critical historical context that should be
discussed,” Chan said.
The Nikkei Student Union, founded in 1981, originally started
Cultural Night in 1986 as part of its annual “Week of
Remembrance” to commemorate the signing of Executive Order
9066. Over the years, the events that made up the Week of
Remembrance have gradually consolidated into one night.
In spite of this consolidation, the Nikkei Student Union still
strives to provide a message each year through the show’s
overarching theme. Past themes have included searching for
one’s identity and cultural roots. This year’s theme,
“Be a Voice in the Community,” illustrates another
important focus of the group.
“Community is an important part of people’s lives.
Within one community, there isn’t just one voice going in a
right or wrong direction, but there are many different voices.
Through the arts, there are lots of ways to speak up and make these
differences heard,” Chan said.
The main drama portion of this year’s show also tackles
the issue of community, showcasing various topics such as the
relationships between different generations of Japanese families as
well as the gaps and tensions that can exist between Japanese
Americans who speak Japanese and those who don’t.
“The fact that these different focuses exist is important,
but our theme is also about finding similarities within those
differences and working toward a common ground that can apply to
the greater Asian community,” Chan said.
Through Cultural Night and its theme, the Nikkei Student Union
hopes that attendees will come away more aware of Japanese culture
and its historical background as well as issues currently facing
the Japanese community.
“Cultural Night is our heritage being presented on
stage,” Hashimoto said. “Hopefully it can also open
eyes within the L.A. community and convince people to get
involved.”