Harrison Japanse Festival
About
Us
“いちしぶ” or “ichishibu” is a student group that contains more than 40 Harrison High School students. Our group was founded in March of 2023 with intent to support Japanese students with schoolwork in a foreign language. We meet every Friday, and students motivate each other in order to strive in their classes. With the increased unity and spirit since the founding of the club, we decided to represent ourselves in the Harrison Japanese Festival as “ichishibu” to express and highlight Japanese culture to the locals. We hope “ichishibu” can become apart of Harrison’s tradition through integration of Japanese culture.
Since many Japanese families are living in Harrison, hosting the Matsuri here would allow us to share and express our Japanese culture in the best way possible. We hope this event will be a successful opportunity in which the people of the community can connect and further bond by experiencing our Japanese culture.
Harrison Japanese Festival 2026
Arata Yamazaki
President Senior
Arata was born in Japan and moved to the United States at 9 years old and is now 17 years old. In the first year of the Japanese festival, he was the leader of the event team, and last year he was the vice president. Starting this year, he will be the Predent of the Japanese festival. He is a part of both varsity soccer at school and competitive club soccer outside of school.
Sei Shinozaki
Vice President Senior
Sei was born on December 12, 2007, in Japan and moved to the United States at 15 years old due to his dad’s job. In his first year, he was a vice leader of the event team, and in his second year, he led the Culture team. This year he became Vice president and he will be in charge of culture and sponser team. He is a part og Varsity Tennis team at HHS.
Kanta Oka
Vice President Junior
Kanta was born on March 19, 2009 in Oita,Japan and moved to the States at 14 years old. In his first year, he was the interviewer for our YouTube channel. In his second year, he led the game team. This year, he is the Vice President and in charge of Game, PR, Event, and Stage Team. He is also a part of the Swimming team at both the high school varsity and club team.
Kaya Ito
Former President First-year(C)
Kaya was born on October 8, 2006, in Kumamoto, Japan. Before she came to the U.S.A, she lived in France, Korea, and China. When she was 14, she came to the U.S. due to her father’s job. In the first year of HJF, she was the leader of the Public Relations team, and last year she was the president of the Festival. She is attending Earlham College and playing soccer at the NCAA D3 level.
Mei Maehara
Stage/Event Senior
Mei Maehara was born in Tokyo on March 21, 2008, and moved to New York at age 8 due to her father's work. The year before last, she worked as a public relations interviewer and assisted with YouTube filming. This year, continuing from last year, she will be in charge of the festival in various ways as an event and stage leader, including planning performances and hosting on the day. She was a drum major for the marching band at HHS and also tutors children learning dance and English.
Iroha Kawata
Food Junior
Iroha was born on May 27, 2008 in Niigata, Japan and grew in Hyogo and Tokyo. She moved to New York when she was 16 years old because her father’s work. She is the leader of the food team from last year. She was a member of volley ball club when she was a junior high school and a high school student. She began to learn violin when she was 4 years old, now she is a member of strings orchestra and playing first violin.
Miho Masumura
Culture Senior
In her first year of the Harrison Japanese festival, she was involved in preparing for the festival, handling tasks such as creating posters. Last year, as the vice leader of the cultural booth, she assisted the leader while focusing on practical duties like planning, preparations, and managing operations on the day. This year, as the cultural booth leader, she is central to booth operations and is also working on new initiatives. She is in the school orchestra ensemble and is also dedicated to music, including piano.
Kosuke Minami
Game Senior
Kosuke Minami was born on November 16, 2008, in Chiba, Japan, and moved to the United States at the age of 13 due to his dad’s job. Last year, he was the vice leader of the game team and he assisted the leader by making new games, preparing, and managing operations on the day. This year, he is continuing his efforts as the leader of the game booth, following on from last year.
Haruki Matsunaga
Public Relations Sophomore
Haruki was born on March 21, 2010, in Kanagawa, Japan. He moved to the Philippines at age 2 and has lived in countries including Sri Lanka and Germany. He returned to Japan in 2022, stayed for two years, and then moved to the United States. Last year, he participated as a volunteer. And this year, he became a PR team leader. He plays varsity soccer at school. While in Japan, he served as student council president and also utilized his strengths in areas where he could help others, such as tutoring for the SAT.
Kento Koyama
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Narumi Hoshi
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