Ehime University ran a student exchange program for Theater EN Juku, consisting of 50 Indonesian university students, who stayed in Ehime for 7 days from April 2 to 8 for their musical performance in all Japanese.
Theater EN Juku, based in Jakarta, is a musical company made up of Indonesian university students who are interested in Japanese culture. Each year in the season of cherry blossoms, around 50 members of EN Juku come to Japan as a program called “Sakura Zensen (Cherry Blossom Front) Project”. This was their first time to show their performance in Shikoku and, most notably, Matsuyama was chosen as this year’s venue since Ehime has had an active relationship with Indonesia.
-
- Dogo Hot Spring
-
- Cherry Blossom Viewing
On the first day, April 2, just after they arrived at Matsuyama Airport, they headed to the spring festival in the Shiroyama Park and gave an excellent live performance of their original song “Sakura Yo”, which was rewritten for the purpose of cheering up people suffered from the Great East Japan Earthquake. Then, they moved to Dogo-onsen District and entertained visitors by performing their popular songs.
On the morning of April 3, they visited Matsuyama Castle to see the cherry blossoms and enjoy lunch under the trees with some student-volunteer guides from Ehime University. On that afternoon, 10 representative members of EN Juku paid a courtesy visit to Governor Nakamura Tokihiro and Vice Mayor Umeoka Shinichiro respectively.
Also, Ehime University carried out a student exchange program between EN Juku and our musical group “Gaku Yu Kai”, led by Associate Professor Toshiaki Kusu, at Ehime University Junior High School’s hall named “Shou-ko-do”. In the program, Indonesian and Japanese students taught each other how to sing “Rasa Sayang” with both Japanese and Indonesian lyrics and practiced some other songs. They enjoyed themselves doing musical exchanges beyond languages and borders as well as hearing their voices resonating beautifully in the historical hall which has been designated a national cultural heritage site. This program was also joined by Ehime University High School’s students doing research on world musicals.
-
- Student Exchange Program
-
- Welcome Party
At the welcoming party held on that evening, EN Juku and Gaku Yu Kai members collaboratively presented songs they had practiced in front of over 120 participants including Vice Governor Joko Toshifumi and Mayor Noshi Katsuhito. Once EN Juku’s original song “Dancing Indonesia” started as an encore, the audience jumped in and it seemed everybody there enjoyed that lively banquet very much.
On April 5, EN Juku’s musical “The Legend of Lotus” was staged for a full capacity audience of 540 in the Matsuyama City Civic Hall, which was a great success. The media also played an important role in this success by closely covering EN Juku’s activities throughout the week.
The Faculty of Collaborative Regional Innovation, Ehime University, plans to send their students to EN Juku in Jakarta as one of their internship programs, which we hope will make the friendship between Indonesia and Ehime University deepen further in the future.
-
- Japanese Musical
-
- Matsuyama Airport