Harrison Japanse Festival
Harrison Japanese Festival
June 2nd Saturday 2024
On Sunday, June 2, we held the Harrison Japanese Festival at Ma Riis Park in front of the Harrison Town Hall. Blessed with good weather, an estimated 2,000 people attended.
Message from former Representative
As this was the first festival organized mainly by students, there were many challenging times during the preparation, and I caused a lot of trouble for the members. Nevertheless, thanks to the members who always supported me, we were able to successfully hold the festival. I am truly grateful to the sponsors who cooperated with this unknown event, the Town/Village of Harrison's staffs who always supported us operationally, the parents who continuously supported the members, Mr. Takada from Oishinbo, and the members who ran together for a long period. It is wonderful that we could bring everything together in the form of a festival.
What makes me happiest is that the members are saying, "We want to do it again next year."
No matter what happens, I hope they will never give up and create a culture where a student-led festival is held every year in Harrison.
Representative (2024): Kosuke Ejiri
Game booth
We operated a total of seven game booths: ring toss, shuriken throwing, coin drop, whac-a-mole, yo-yo fishing and super ball scooping run by Amnet, and target throwing run by Sakura Gakuen. Tickets for the seven games and one cultural booth sold approximately $5,000.
The handmade Whack-a-Mole game made from cardboard was particularly popular with children, creating long lines. Some participants even expressed a desire to borrow the game for their own events. Gaming Team Leader: Kento Honda, Vice Gaming Team Leader: Kentaro Kaneko
Event
The website, which our team worked together and paid close attention to detail for completing, allowed us to inform many cooperators and participants about the festival in advance. The website was essential to the success of the event in terms of attracting visitors, with a few thousands people accessing the site in the week prior to the event.
The Public Relations team undertook several projects to promote the event. The first project was to post and distribute flyers. Thousands of flyers were distributed to Harrison students and approximately 1,000 flyers were posted around town. The second project was to promote the event on Instagram, where we posted daily reel videos for about two weeks, as well as story posts about the event to give a realistic look at the event.
The publicity strategy, which was a cross between analog and digital, was successful, and we were able to attract a large number of visitors on the day of the event.
Website Team Leader: Kanata Tsunashima, Public Relations Team Leader: Kaya Ito
hanks to the cooperation of our sponsors with prizes, we were able to hold six events: three rock-paper-scissors tournaments, two quiz contests, and a raffle for those who completed the Bingo Task Rally. Lots of attendees participated, aiming to win luxury prizes such as meal vouchers from Hajime Japanese Restaurant, free airport transfer coupons from ON-TIME LIMOUSINE, free lesson vouchers from Rye Racquet Club, Amazon gift cards sponsored by JNCA, and autographed baseballs from Hideki Matsui.
In the quiz contest for elementary school students, we hosted an event centered around children using hand-drawn illustrations by the members.
Event Team Leader: Arata Yamazaki, Vice Event Team Leader: Sei Shinozaki
We had performances by a total of 12 groups, including karate, kendo, bon dance, singing, and musical performances. Each performance received loud cheers and applause, creating a united and lively atmosphere.
The last stage performance was a Soran Bushi dance by the organizing members, and the audience joined in with shouts of "Soran, Soran," filling the venue with energy.
Stage Team Leader: Hikari Fujino, Vice Stage Team Leader: Iwasaki Rina
Stage・Performance
We operated a total of five cultural booths: calligraphy, origami, Japanese toys, photo booth, and a sword booth run by Manami Palmini. Most of the cultural booths were free, allowing visitors to enjoy them casually.
The calligraphy booth, which showcased calligraphy works, offered calligraphy experiences, and allowed visitors to have their favorite kanji written by hand, was particularly popular. It provided a great opportunity for locals to learn about Japanese calligraphy culture.
Culture Team Leader: Naho Nakayamada, Vice Culture Team Leader: Eren Yoshimura
Culture
Public Relations ・Website
The website, which our team worked together and paid close
attention to detail for completing, allowed us to inform many
cooperators and participants about the festival in advance.
The website was essential to the success of the event in
terms of attracting visitors, with a few thousands people
accessing the site in the week prior to the event.
The Public Relations team undertook several projects to promote
the event. The first project was to post and distribute flyers. Thousands of flyers were distributed to Harrison students and approximately 1,000 flyers were posted around town. The second project was to promote the event on Instagram, where we posted daily reel videos for about two weeks, as well as story posts about the event to give a realistic look at the event.
The publicity strategy, which was a cross between analog and digital, was successful, and we were able to attract a large number of visitors on the day of the event.
Website Team Leader: Kanata Tsunashima, Public Relations Team Leader: Kaya Ito
Sponsor
At Sponsors Booth, we displayed pamphlets, videos, and posters provided by our sponsors to promote them. Some materials provided for the display were gone within the first 30 minutes, indicating the high interest from the visitors. 20 companies contributed a total of over $7,000.00 plus other assistance to make this event
a success. Thank you so much
for supporting us!
At Japanese History of Earthquake Booth,
we displayed information panels on three major
earthquakes in Japan: the Noto Earthquake, the
Great East Japan Earthquake, and the Great Kanto
Earthquake. The donation box at the earthquake
booth collected $232, showing the warm support
from many attendees.
Sponsor Team Leader: Tetta Murakami, Vice Sponsor Team Leader: Rino Fujimura