Both taiko and tanko bushi, for those who don’t know, refers to two traditional art forms within the Japanese culture. Specifically, taiko refers to a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments, while tanko bushi, on the other hand, refers to a Japanese folk song. Together, both can be seen in festivals within Japan ranging from either religious significance to historical pinpoints.

At the beginning of the event, we both sat in the front – on my behalf – in order to get the full experience of watching a taiko performance alongside demonstrations of a tanko bushi. What we failed to do, however, was read the description of the event and understand that the event itself wasn’t simply just a presentation, but instead, a workshop.

Midway through the event, the presenter began calling out for volunteers to participate in the tanko bushi. Being who we are, my friend and I tried to scurry to the back of the room in a poor attempt to not get called on; however, we failed miserably because

one of the ushers stopped us and encouraged our participation. Not being able to say no, we both scurried to the front of the room, or rather at the end of the crowd, and began to perform a tanko bushi.

At first, we were confused and by that, I do not mean any simple confusion.

In our best attempts, we tried to follow along with the steps of the tanko bushi; however, it was in that moment that we both realized we severely lack any form of rhythm. While we were trying to dance, stay in step, and on beat with everyone else, I can assure you we did anything but. One thing I will note, however, that while we may have been two of the most horrendous dancers anyone in that room has ever possibly seen, we had fun.

From the beginning to the end of the tanko bushi, we had a blast trying to keep up with the steps and stay in line with everyone else. While we may have looked like some rhythm-less dorks, we were cute dorks, if I may say so myself.

Towards the ends of the event where our energy was slowly beginning to dissipate, we returned to our seats and listened to the history that surrounds both taiko and tanko bushi alongside watching, more than listening, to the presenter play a taiko. While in

most instances, you would listen to an individual play an instrument rather than watching, in this instance, it was amazing to watch the presenter play the instrument because it was not only a musical performance, but a physical one as well.

Sadly, words cannot do justice to the performance, so please, watch one here.

Once the event concluded, my friend and I decided to run away before another workshop could commence, but we will admit that the event was not what we expected and that we are pretty pleased with our decision to attend the event itself.

We both look forward to our next adventure and this time, I promise, we will read the full description of the event.

Anything going on around town?
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The post Word Around Town: Taiko Presentation and Tanko Bushi Dance Workshop appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The Japanese film industry is suffering due to the economy and big-budget Hollywood films. However, during the past 70 years, from the end of WWII to the present, Japanese filmmakers have made a lot of magnificent films. In this article, I’m going to recommend some good Japanese films to you.

Godzilla (1954)

Godzilla, probably one of the most famous Japanese monsters ever known to the Western world, first came out of the ocean in the film Godzilla in 1954. In an era without CGI and computer-generated special effects, the 1954’s Godzilla was actually a man wearing the Godzilla costume destroying scaled model buildings.

One thing that you should know while watching this film is that the creation of Godzilla in 1954 is quite different than today’s version. The Godzilla monster was created as a result of America’s nuclear testing in Bikini Atoll in 1954, from the mutation caused by the radiation and fallout created by the test. The Godzilla was created as an anti-nuclear weapon monster to protest the pollution the bombs have caused  on the environment.

Kwaidan (1964)

Kwaidan is probably one of the earliest color horror films that was made in Japan. The film contains four different stories based on Japanese folk tales: The Black Hair, The Woman of the Snow, Hoichi the Earless, and the Tea Cup. Unlike today’s fast-paced Hollywood horror films which feature jump scares and a lot of bloody scenes, Kwaidan may look slowly-paced and kind of boring in the first twenty minutes. But I can assure you that you will find it interesting and scary in the end.

Vengeance is Mine (1979)

https://youtu.be/Kk81j7Sm5IY

This film is about a story of a serial killer Nishiguchi Akira. Instead of the standard “cats and rats game” in most serial killer films, Vengeance is Mine focuses on the serial killer himself. We can see how a Catholic child in southern Japan grew up to become an infamous serial killer.  The film is a classical combination of thrillers and detective stories.

I hope you enjoy these films. If you are looking for more Japanese films, you can look into the following titles: Seven Samurai, Ran, Madadayo, The Crazy Fruit, HANA-BI and Ju-on.

Yihao is also the host of the show at KRUI every Wednesday from 3-4 pm. The show focuses on international students’ issues in Iowa City, as well as introducing different cultures around the world.

The post Global Perspective: The Japanese Films You Should See appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Chinese foods are everywhere. I mean, not only you can find at least one of them in most of the places in the United States, but you can also find them all around the world. But in this article I’m just going to focus on the Chinese restaurants in America. If you often eat in a Chinese restaurant in the United States, you surely realized that there are many “universal dishes” in the Chinese restaurants in the U.S. that you can surely find in almost all the Chinese restaurants in the nation.

Those dishes are, but not limit to General Tso’s chicken, sweet and sour chicken, Mongolian beef, crab Rangoon, and, of course, the fortune cookies. But did you know that many of those “universal dishes” are actually Americanized Chinese dishes?

In this article, we will talk about three different Chinese foods that can be considered “universal” Chinese foods in the United States: General Tso’s chicken, crab Rangoon, and fortune cookies; their origins, their ingredients, the history of the food, and how people think about them.

So let’s talk about General Tso’s chicken. Unlike some other dishes like sweet and sour chicken that the name directly reflects what is in the dish, General Tso’s chicken is actually named after a person. General Tso, or Zuo Zhongtang in Mandarin Chinese, was a Qing Dynasty general and statesman (1812-1885). However, there is no evidence that he had any connection with General Tso’s chicken.

General Tso’s chicken uses breaded chicken with sweet, sour, and spicy sauce. The dish is always served with broccoli.Although there are many versions of the origin of the General Tso’s chicken, there is a common notion that the dish is either from Taiwan, or created by a cook in the New York City. As many people have already guessed, there is no such dish in mainland China. However, there are dishes that use similar cooking styles in the Hunan providence in China.

I gave some samples of General Tso’s chicken to three different people and ask for the feedback after they tastes them. Mentao, a Chinese international student; Walker, a domestic student who loves Americanized Chinese food; and McKenna, a domestic student who has been to China before all tried the samples.

Mentao liked the chicken as long as he didn’t compare it to the “real” Chinese food. He also pointed out that the chicken tastes like sauced chicken nuggets so it is more “American” than Chinese. Walker totally liked the chicken and he said it tasted good. However, McKenna wasn’t a big fan of General Tso’s chicken because after she tasted “real” Chinese food in China, she thinks that Americanized Chinese foods are not as good as the “real” Chinese food.

If we say that General Tso’s chicken was based on some kind of origin Chinese cooking style, then the crab Rangoon is almost having nothing to do with China.

Crab Rangoon uses cream cheese and wonton wrap as its main ingredients. The cook wraps the cream cheese inside the wanton wrap, and deep fries it until crispy. Although crab Rangoon can be found in almost all the Chinese restaurant in the United States, again, this dish has nothing to do with Chinese food.

The word “Rangoon” in the name “crab Rangoon” is really an old name of Yangon, the largest in Myanmar. Although the origin recipe of the crab Rangoon was probably a Burmese recipe, crab Rangoon was probably invented by a Hawaiian or a Pacific islander restaurant in San Francisco in 1950s.  Cream cheese is nonexistent in Chinese food, therefore, it is unlikely that this dish was invented by the Chinese.

After the tasting, Mentao liked the taste of the crab Rangoon, but refuse to recognize it as Chinese food. Walker likes it, and McKenna did not like it.

The common and the most famous Americanized Chinese food is probably the fortune cookie. There used to be a joke about fortune cookie that someone found a piece of paper in the fortune cookie saying: “HELP! I am a prisoner trapped in the Chinese fortune cookie factory!” For people who are really into this joke, you might be disappointed about what I’m going to say: Chinese fortune cookie factory does not exist, and fortune cookie is something invented by the Americans.

The fortune cookie’s original version came from Japan, which was imported into the U.S. in the early 20^th century. During WWII, Chinese fortune cookies drove Japanese cookies out and took control of the market, and they soon spread across the nation. Ironically, the fortune cookie never entered the Chinese market, even though there was an attempt of introducing the fortune cookie to the Chinese people in 1992; it failed because it was too “American”.

So now that you know where these dishes come from, do you still want to eat them? All of our guests agreed that as long as they taste good, it’s okay that they are not really authentic Chinese foods.

How do you feel after you learn the origin of these foods? Are you surprised? Feel free to comment!

Yihao is also the host of the show “Global Perspective” at KRUI every Wednesday from 3-4 pm. The show focuses on international students’ issues in Iowa City, as well as introducing different cultures around the world.

The post Global Perspective: The Chinese Foods That Aren’t From China appeared first on KRUI Radio.