Japanese Culture Club Explores Culture and History in Japantown

What does it really mean to experience a culture beyond traditional classroom learning? For members of the Oakwood High School Japanese Culture Club, a recent visit to San Jose Japantown (Nihonmachi) offered an answer–one that combined food, history, and community. The club, run by sophomores Tanner Ota, Joseph Taylor, and Mason Nishimura, aims to teach fellow students Japanese culture and its importance. The leaders concluded that the best way to teach culture was through immersion–and the Bay Area offered the perfect setting, one shaped by a long history of Japanese immigration. After exploring the culture through food at Hukilau, students then learned about its history at the Japanese American Museum of San Jose. An engaging docent guided students through the history of Japanese immigration and Japantown San Jose, before explaining the internment and forced relocation of over 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II–two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens. “Personally, my family was forced to go to the internment camps,” Ota said. “It’s important to learn about this history so we don’t repeat it, and seeing the club learn through the museum’s docent, who has a personal connection to the story he’s telling, was touching.” To wrap up the trip, students stepped back into the present day and explored Japantown, visiting a variety of shops to see firsthand Japanese crafts, markets, food, and other important pieces of culture. Ota added, “The trip was a huge success getting the students to not just learn, but to experience the culture. The club hopes to do more things like this in the future.” Ultimately, the trip showed students that culture is not just something to study–it’s something to experience, understand, and carry forward beyond the classroom walls.

Japanese Culture Club Trip to Japantown Photo Album