In the last Friday, I went to Shah Alam to attend this event. This event started at 4 p.m. and ended in 9.30 p.m. For me, it is a very fun experience. This event was organised every year but this is my first time. Bon-Odori is a new experience for me because before this I don't ever know about what is the festival and how Japanese celebrated their traditional event. After I came to that event, it already opened my view.
In that day, it was disappointed that the weather is not so good in the start. The sky started with heavy rain and thunder. Everyone in that event were running like cats and dogs to find place to cover from heavy rain. It was lucky that heavy rain was not for long time and a fair weather for a long night. I forgot to tell you all the venue. It organised in Shah Alam Sport Complex Stadium, which located in Shah Alam Section 22. In that place, you can find a lot of Japanese Foods,drinks, and their traditional clothes. I would like to buy traditional clothes but I just didn't bring much money.
In the place, you also could see they set up the stage in the middle of stadium. The festival ceremony started at 7 p.m. It started with performance by students which came from Japanese School Kuala Lumpur. Their performance were separated into three parts in the night. When they started to dance, the crowd of people around the stage started to follow them to dance. In the last part, my friend, Jason Ong and I started to join them too. It was very fun. In the middle of event, Sultan Selangor, the State of Minister, and also Japan-Malaysia Ambassador arrived in the place. For me, I managed to take picture together with a few of Japanese Girls. It was my pleasure to take picture with them. I also met with the Japanese family when I sat at the audience sit with my friend. During that time, I start a lot of conversation with them. I knew more about Japan from the conversation. Thanks to them for giving a lot of information to me. I also need to thank students from
Japanese School Kuala Lumpur to let me open my eyes to increase my understanding to Japanese Culture.
Bon Odori Festival 2016
is held annually at Shah Alam, Kompleks Sukan Negara. The Bon Odori celebration
in Malaysia is an effort to promote and strengthen cultural ties between
Malaysia and Japan. It is estimated that every year more than 30,000 people
participated in the celebration.
About:
There are several
traditional dances in Japan, but the one of the most famous and common dance is
Bon dance, which is called “Bon Odori” in Japanese. People dance Bon Dance in
the Bon Festival. The Bon Festival is held every summer, in every district in
every city.
Bon means welcoming
ancestors’ souls and holding a memorial service for the souls. There is a Bon
week in August every year, and Bon continues for about a week. During Bon,
sometimes all relatives of family gather and hold a memorial service for their
ancestors, and enjoy being in a reminiscent mood. This traditional comes from
Buddhism in China.
The Bon Festival is held
during in Bon week, and people gathers at the near open-space or the parks, and
dance with traditional Japanese music. The music should be happy music to
welcome the ancestor’s souls, and people have a duty to make a happy,
mysterious, and welcoming mood. Moreover, the Bon Dance should be held in the
night because Japanese people believe that ancestors’ souls come back in the
night.
The technology in Japan
has developed in a hundred years, but Japanese people have never forgotten the
traditional heart, and taking place Bon Festival and Bon Dance every summer.
Japanese people will continue to venerate this traditional, and to respect the
soul of their
Programme:
*Subject to change
4:30pm Gates Open
7:00pm Opening – Drum
Performance
7:15pm Bon Odori Dance
Part 1
7:45pm Dance by Guest
Performers
8:00pm Bon Odori Dance
Part 2
8:30pm “Wadaiko” Guest
Performance
9:00pm Bon Odori Dance
Part 3
9:30pm Closing Address
