Yokoso: JCCU Welcomes New Members One and All!

KAJANG, 3rd August – Japanese Culture Club UNITEN (JCCU) conducted an event entitled ‘Yokoso 2017’ on the 28th July 2017 from 8am to 1pm at the UNITEN Student Centre. ‘Yokoso’, which means ‘welcome’ in Japanese, conveys the simple message of welcoming new students to UNITEN and JCCU as well as to break the ice between the newcomers and the seniors of the club. It is based off a ‘regular high school sports day’ with \’subarashi\’ (amazing) twists to it. With 30 committee members, the event was well received by over 40 participants.

Participants were grouped into teams of seven for the day’s activities, where a variety of games were held.  These include ‘Relay Race’, ‘Skip Rope’, ‘Dungeon Dragon Balls’ and ‘6-Legged-Race’. Key activities that took place included ice-breaking sessions, relay races as well as the iconic Yokoso-exclusive game Dungeon Dragon Balls, where teams of six were required to pass scrunched up newspapers to one another in a line while making sure the balloons wedged between every two teammates did not burst.

\”I felt proud of my team. We collected most of the balls, which is 33,\” Eric Pradana Putra bin Amin of 5 Pieces expressed happily, \”In the game, my job was to lead the team, collect the balls and pass them to my teammates.\”

Aside from Dungeon Dragon Balls, many of the activities had a unique twist to them to ensure that participants would be surprised from beginning to end. For example, the Relay Races comprised five minigames, which included a cosplay run, where participants, clad in anime characters\’ clothing, would run to reach the finish line.

Eric recounted the Relay Races merrily. \”My favourite game would have to be the Relay Races. It was funny and weird but I felt proud of myself at the time.\” He then proceeded to describe them as a set of \’weird games that drives you crazy\’.

Mohd Hakim Bin Taufik as director of Yokoso also shared with us his thoughts. “The JCCU actually holds this (Yokoso) every year, which purposes to attract and welcome students into our club. The whole event is inspired by the culture of sports day, which is held in Japan as well as in Malaysia. For example, the ‘bread bite’ game represents some of the modern ‘anime’ culture. Another game, called Teng-Teng is also widely played in Malaysia.\”

The ultimate winner at the end of the games was none other than \’Revolve Bullet\’, who swiped victory from the other teams.  Abid Akalil Akmal Bin A Hamid, as one of the members of the team felt great over their victory. \”I think the event was simply great and amazing! I didn\’t expect for us to win first place because, just by looking at them, all the other teams were quite exuberant. But all in all, because of our great teamwork, we managed to get the first place. Yeah it was amazing!\”

The director of Yokoso 2017 as well as the committee board were extremely satisfied with the execution of the event. “Everyone, including the newer committees gave their best effort and cooperation for the success of the event. For that I’m very proud and I’m sure we can pull off a better ‘Yokoso’ next year,” the director said.

Written by: Nur Dini Sanuri and Ahmad Daniel Haziq Mahari Razol Mahari

Edited by: Ahmad Danial \’Irfan bin Husain