ーPrior Meetingsー 

Welcome new and returning members of Japan Club! In this meeting, we introduced this year's club officers (more info on the "Our Team" page). Afterward, we watched last year's Japan Club recap video, which showed our events including Club Rush, Karaoke Night, END ALS Color Run, Speech Contest, and the End-of-the-Year Japan Town and Japanese Tea Garden Trip. Finally, we all started on our "Watashi Mo!" (Me Too!) icebreaker activity cards, in which we each listed something we enjoy during our free time, one favorite food, and one unique thing about ourselves.

Welcome back everyone! This time, we are starting this meeting with the "Watashi Mo!" icebreaker activity, as prepared in the previous meeting with our unique cards, in which we will find out what we have in common with each other! A random club member's card will be selected and each statement is read aloud while everyone stands. In short, if it applies to you, keep standing, if not, sit down; you may NOT stand back up after sitting down (until the next round). Next, the club voted on what they would like to see or learn in our Japan Club meetings; if any members would like to (anonymously) suggest an idea for the club, use this suggestion form. Origami took the vote with five, and we all made origami hearts to hang on the wall (with our names). Finally, we introduced Japan Club's (work-in-progress) website to show what we offer throughout the year and what y'all can excitedly anticipate!

こんにちは皆さん！「Hello everyone!」Today, we continued our "Watashi Mo!" icebreaker activity to learn more about our fellow members! Then, we transitioned to origami, the most voted activity from our last meeting, so we tried making origami cats! Unfortunately, this was a difficult challenge compared to our previous origami heart, and the bell rang before we could finish. It's okay, we'll try our best next time! 

頑張りましょう！「We can do it!」

ようこそ皆さん！「Welcome everyone!」Unfortunately, we needed to take a quick detour from our usual 'fun' activities. With Club Rush coming soon on October 17, Japan Club members decided to buy 80 rolls of Kimbap for our stand. We also accepted many willing volunteers to come and support us during the event; there are still other vacant positions, so let us know if anyone would like to help! Remember, Club Rush is one way to fundraise for Japan Club's future field trips including the highly anticipated Japantown and Japanese Tea Garden Trip, so please consider supporting in any way possible! 

ありがとうございます！「Thank you!」

Welcome newcomers and welcome back returners of Japan Club! Our icebreaker today was "What is one of your favorite animals?" Most members seemed to love dogs, cats, bears, and owls. Unfortunately, we did not get through as much as we wanted to as there was a technical difficulty with our Kahoot on the Okayama prefecture; however, stay tuned for it in another meeting!

Welcome Japan Club members! Our icebreaker today was your favorite cold drink. Next, we did our "Watashi Mo!" activity, where we realized that we should probably check the attendance sheet for present members next time. Also, although it may be a little sudden, tomorrow is our Karaoke Night (not "Contest" as it was in previous years) event, where anyone is free to attend and just have fun! In this meeting, we discussed any suggestions for our club's collaborative song to sing along to (as a way to represent Alvarez's Japan Club), which we finalized on YMCA and Fly-Day Chinatown. We're looking forward to seeing y'all there! Finally, we ended the meeting with a team activity suggestion for Japan Club, hand sumo. 

おかえりなさい 「Welcome back」returning Japan Club members and ようこそ「Welcome」new members! Today, we are excited to announce a new therapeutic cat added to the class family and we need y'all's help in naming it! So, please think and suggest any names related to Japanese food for the new cat. Next, as usual, we did our "Watashi Mo!" activity to learn more about our fellow members. Then, we recapped the results of Club Rush: we sadly did not sell out during the event, so let's give our special thanks to Orozco-Sensei (for picking up the Kimbap to make this possible), Gomez-Sensei (for reaching out and connecting with other teachers), Hashiba-Sensei (for staying afterschool [until ~17:30] to sell the remaining), and Susarrey-Sensei (for purchasing a lot of the remaining kimbap [$20 worth]). Finally, we recapped the events of Karaoke Night, we're looking forward to seeing y'all participate next year!

Welcome back Japan Club members and newcomers for joining us today during this extended lunch period. Considering it was Halloween we opened the Ice Breaker with "What are you doing for Halloween?" Continuing on, we played "Watashi Mo!" to further learn about members and what we have in common. We played hand sumo due to us running out of time last meeting. It was very one sided with the same person winning every round against everyone. Since our lunch was extended we had enough time to do a kahoot on "Okayama" followed shortly with a video on Halloween in Japan. At this point we all agreed to end the club meeting 10 minutes before lunch ended due to other ongoing school events, but we all hope to see you next time! Happy Halloween!

Welcome back to returning Japan Club members and welcome new members! Today was an exciting day for Japan Club; we finally named the new cat! But before that, for icebreakers, we expressed our favorite season of the year. The most common were summer (as it is usually when members may visit their family) and winter (for its chilling environment). Following the icebreakers, we learned more about two more members from the "Watashi Mo!" activity, Melina-san and Athziri-san! For the final and most long-anticipated moment in our meeting, Japan Club members suggested (Japanese-food related) names for the new therapeutic cat! After a tie with "Takoyaki," our new addition to the class cat family has inherited the name, "Miso!" Coincidentally, although we did not have enough time, Japan Club agreed with Miso Wednesday as a good fundraising idea for the club.

Welcome back 皆さん「everyone」! Today's icebreaker was "What is your favorite kind of sweet?" Although, there were a handful who did not like sweets... Continuing, we learned about two other members from the "Watashi Mo!" activity, ... . Next, we focused on fundraising suggestions for Japan Club (to help fund future events, including the end-of-the-year Japantown and Tea Garden trip), which we thought of "made items" and trinkets. Afterward, Japan Club introduced a new activity, "Kanji of the Week," where today we drew the kanji for "flower," 花 ( はな / hana ). Finally, we ended the day with Japanese tongue twisters. While it may be a bit difficult, feel free to impress everyone with your incredible Japanese-speaking skills next week.

Welcome back 皆さん 「everyone」! As finals week creeps closer and closer, Japan Club would like to wish you all 頑張って 「GOOD LUCK!」 on y'all's finals. Aside from finals, I believe we are all excited for Winter Break to finally arrive! That's why today our icebreaker was, "What are you most excited for this break?" Moving on, we finished our 'Watashi Mo!' cards; we will have to make new ones next year! Finally, we spent the rest of the meeting discussing fundraising ideas for Japan Club's events and the 2026 spring JAPAN TRIP!!! That's all for today, 皆さん「everyone」、have a wonderful Winter Break!!! Spend time with your families and enjoy the time you have left with them :) 

あけましておめでとうございます〜！(akemashiteomedetou~!)