Marshall University hosted a Japan Day Friday in the Memorial Student Center. Japan Day brought faces from both the university and the community to the event.

“We are here to celebrate Japan Day. We have been doing this since 2012,” Zelideth Rivas Assistant Professor of Japanese and Japanese program director said. “This is a lot bigger than what we started doing. We wanted to share Japanese culture with Marshall and with the community. I hope everyone is able to take just one cultural nuance.”

During Japan Day, there were events for everyone including Matcha Tea tasting, origami, calligraphy, coloring, Yukata photo booth, speeches and live music.

“I am in a Japanese anime class and I just came out today because I am intrigued by the culture. said Tyler Grimm, sophomore engineering major. “I think everything going on here is pretty cool.”

“As a club we don’t want to just focus on Japanese culture. We want to introduce Japanese culture to American culture and the other way around,” Ayumi Tanaka, graduate student and president of the Japan club said. “I just want everyone to enjoy themselves.”

The Department of Modern Language, Sado Club, Japan Club, Kendo Club and Japan Outreach Club sponsored Japan Day.

Michael Brown can be contacted at [email protected].