It’s truly amazing how much people can affect you without you even realizing it. Today was my last practice with the yosakoi team at Nagasaki University. Since it’s finals week, there weren’t too many people there, and they spent most of the time practicing their formations for an upcoming festival. Rachael and I stayed for a while past the usual time and chatted with a few people, telling them that this would be our last practice. We were just getting ready to leave when a senpai came over and asked if we wanted to do 「色」one last time. With solid nods of our heads and tears pricking at my eyes, she announced to the others practicing that today was our last day. Looks of shock and surprise adorned the faces of the other members (Really, the idea of the Japanese being well-informed and organized is a bit of a lie). Nonetheless, Rachael and I were given happi to wear as we all formed a circle and danced one last time as a group.
Rachael and I were placed in the center for the dance and given the privilege of shouting the starting commands. We remained in the center for the entire dance, including the men’s part when the guys surrounded us as we waved the happi through the air. Afterward, we took pictures and managed to give a few final words of thanks before we prepared to leave. One girl named Yumi, who had come to get to know us rather well, was in tears as we were leaving. I hugged her tightly and begged her not to cry and promising that we would see her again, either through coming back to Japan or her coming to see us in America. I told the rest of the group to come visit us in America before we finally got out the door to put our street shoes back on. Yumi followed us out for one last hug and a promise to find us on facebook while the boys’ captain shook hands with us and thanked us for joining them. It was with tears in our eyes and smiles on our faces that Rachael and I finally set off, waving eagerly to everyone until we couldn’t see them anymore.
I didn’t expect to cry. I didn’t expect it to be so hard to say goodbye. These were people that I just barely knew. I had only just started getting to know people maybe two weeks ago (Japanese shyness does little to help with trying to make friends). Yet despite all of that, I managed to laugh with them at jokes made during practice and hug them as they cried tears of joy from victory at festivals. My blood, sweat, and tears from practice have mixed with theirs so that we all have a mutual understanding of just how amazing this group is. The senpai have helped us through so much; helping us improve our techniques, and making things easier for us to understand. They cared for Rachael when she overheated during practice one day by giving her water and Aquarius and fanning her to help her cool down (One male senpai even volunteered to carry her to the second practice location). They comforted Elmo (Who knew no Japanese when she first got here) when she cried out of frustration for not being able to understand anything by giving her hugs, words of encouragement, and invitations to the group parties in broken English.
To me, this is a strange kind of unspoken bond that you feel with the people around you when you become a part of something bigger. You find ways around the language barriers and form connections with people you barely know. Yet these bonds become strong enough to make you not want to leave, especially as you’re just starting to break those walls of shyness to see people for who they really are. I can easily say that yosakoi has been my best Japanese experience since arriving in Japan, and I feel like I am part of yet another family (this one happening to have about one hundred members). My hope is that I will find Yumi on facebook and that she’ll redirect me to the other members of Toppu so I can keep in touch with them and get to know them more even after I’ve returned home.
Not the entire team by any means, but Genki McSenpai is there.
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