May 18th wraps up all of the Japanese Club for 2026! The EOY (End of Year) party, designed by the underclassmen to celebrate the graduating seniors. From the library, this special event goes over the values and connections that both teachers and club members hold with one another, as well as bidding farewell to the graduating seniors.
“Basically, at this party, we are recognizing our seniors and members of all the club events we do throughout the year, we also thank all the teachers and the adults that helped throughout the year,” said Tateyama Sensei.
Starting off at 4 pm, a game of “What’s in the Box?” starts the event. Participants line up to reach their hands from the sides, relying on their sense of feel to guess what they’re touching. Objects vary from familiar items such as hair clips, Naruko Hand Clappers, and stress balls. To more vague items, such as face masks, dream catchers, and Christmas decorations. Light teasing of any live animals potentially in the box was added to make the experience more stressful. Thankfully, no animals were used, nor hurt.
A participant in “What’s in the Box?” with a Christmas decoration inside.
Carrying on to the next activity, Blind Karaoke. If singing in front of a crowd wasn’t difficult enough for you, then singing with your eyes closed is the next step to take. Volunteers and Seniors together huddle around a microphone, singing lyrics to the songs they vaguely remember. Selected songs vary amongst more popularly known movies, such as Frozen, Aladdin, and K-Pop Demon Hunters, to name a couple. The last 2 songs, Earth, Wind & Fire – Let’s Groove and Cupid – Cupid Shuffle, both requested by teachers, were a hit amongst everyone.
At 5 pm, club members, teachers, and adults were served their chicken, rice, and potsticker bento’s. With a couple of minutes spent eating and socializing, a couple of talented people come up from the crowd to perform. Experiences ranging from singing, telling jokes, and playing instruments, the Japanese Club members hold a wide variety of diverse talents.
Club members playing the Violin and the Oboe.
Nearing the end around 7 pm ties off with a short compilation of shared moments the club has spent time in. Whether it’d be together or during certain projects, such as their Campus Beautification. Giving a proper close to this Japanese Club’s EOY party, the seniors huddle up one last time for a big group photo. From this year to the next, we give props to the Japanese Club for not only what they do for this community, but also for the effort they put into giving each other, and the teachers who helped, a proper goodbye for this summer.
A painting made with the hard work of the 2026 Japanese Club members.
