WASEDA-SAI 2009

Waseda University is one of the most famous universities in Japan. There are a number of campuses around the country, but its main one — and the one where I attended this festival last weekend — is located in Nishi-Waseda, Tokyo. It boasts an impressive roster of alumni: six postwar Prime Ministers; corporate heavyweights including one of the co-founders of Sony and the CEOs of Honda and UNIQLO; and internationally-acclaimed author Haruki Murakami just to mention a few. And every year, its students hold a festival.

I heard about this festival purely by chance. Teaching as usual one early Saturday afternoon, the bread-and-butter question of English conversation teaching — “So what are you doing this weekend?” — prompted one of my students to mention that she was going to her daughter’s university festival later in the day. Incidentally, I had just been to my first Japanese university festival not one week earlier at Bunka University in Shinjuku (which, amongst other fun things, put on some great fashion shows). After extracting more information, I discovered that my student’s daughter attended Waseda University, which so happened to be a short bicycle ride from my house. Furthermore, celebrities like singer/actress Mika Nakashima and gravure idol Aki Hoshino were scheduled to make appearances, so, having nothing better to do after work, I quickly penciled it in.

As fate would have it, certain things came up that prevented me from going later that day. Fortunately, though, the festival was running over the whole weekend, so I managed to catch a full day on Sunday. For one reason or another, it didn’t even cross my mind to write a post about it later, so I didn’t take many great photos to document it. Apologies. The best of what I’ve got is here, but I almost wrote this without including them because there’s just so much I didn’t capture.

There were lots of people.

There was an eating competition.

There was a big stage out at the front of the Okuma Memorial Hall, named after the university’s founder (a statue of whom can be seen in this article’s cover image).

There was cosplay.

There were shows that made no sense to me.

And there was music.

To say that I was blown away is an understatement. From what I gather, the festival is largely organised by the students themselves. They construct the food stalls, and later, after it’s over, they tear it all down. They cook the food and prepare the drinks. They decorate the campus and paint the signage. They create the printed festival guide. They hang their own artwork on the walls. They bring their own flotsam to sell at the flea market (which was labelled, misleadingly, though probably unintentionally, as the “Free Market”). And they put on their own shows.

And what shows they were. Everyday university life may be a drag, but clearly these students make the most of their extra-curricular time, joining any number of the staggering 400 or more uni clubs on offer, and at the festival, they put their talents on show for all to see. Students showing off their skills in a-capella singing, beatboxing, traditional dancing, martial arts, stage shows, cheerleading and street performance could be found entertaining crowds of peers and visitors alike. Crazies dressed (and cross-dressed) in all manner of costumes added dashes of humour to the already vibrant scene. There was even a nunchaku battle. Don’t believe me? Behold!

My personal highlight, however, was unquestionably the discovery of “Building #7″, or “the music building” as it were on that day. This was a building, perhaps 4 or 5 floors high, with no distinguishing external features, packed with student bands performing in almost every second room all day. Rooms that ordinarily existed as dull classrooms were transformed into colourful disco dancehalls and insulated concert venues, complete with appropriate ambient lighting and hand-made decorations, each with a full day’s lineup of student musicians ready to have some fun.

Perhaps more than the sheer number of bands was the number of styles to choose from. Each room typically catered to a particular musical genre, whether it be rock, soul, pop, jazz, classical, punk, ska, heavy metal, or, more often than not, delightful combinations of these. I felt like I was in some kind of fantastic music factory, running up and down the corridors past rockers in their leather jackets, ragtime girls with ukeleles and grungy guys in 90s flannel as an eclectic melange of sounds pounded at and seeped through the walls on both sides. It was quite a surreal experience, and very dream-like, opening each of the nondescript doors to discover what new musical worlds lay behind them. The rooms were arenas; and backstage was in the hallways. I couldn’t believe that such a marvellous place could exist, and despite being thrilled at the find, was saddened by the fact that it would only last for a little more than the afternoon I was there. After stumbling upon this place, I didn’t leave until it was all over, many hours later.

Bands typically played 20 minute sets before hastily unplugging for the next band to set up, so overstayed welcomes were nonexistant. After a tour of the entire building, I settled on a room on the ground floor that played host to, as I later found out, “The Naleio”, otherwise known as “The Waseda University Official Circle”. This isn’t one band, but a group of bands that I suppose are “good enough” to represent the university under such an official-sounding banner. They’re billed as purveyors of soul, blues, funk and R&B, which is more or less right up my alley. All the bands that I saw put on great shows.

One particularly memorable performance was by a band called “The Fenders”, fronted by a sweaty fellow who did a mighty fine chanelling of James Brown. He was supported by a drummer, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, two backup singers and three brass players (yes, a bit more fleshed out than your average student garage band). The talent was undeniable. I caught up with him after the show, as his English on stage was excellent to the point that I (and other Japanese in the crowd) thought he was actually an international student, and I was curious to find out where he was from. Turns out he was Japanese and had never lived abroad, despite what his English skills suggested.

I asked him what he was studying, and he replied “political science and economics”. Then, something disheartening occurred to me. All the office drones I see on the trains and streets every day, grinding away like robots, all the wearied salarymen and decorative OLs (office ladies) settled into the most predictable lifestyle in Japan… a good deal of them were probably once part of energetic bands just like this guys’, or talented performance troupes like the one that was entertaining the masses outside. They may even have shed an emotional tear as their audiences begged them for an encore performance after their last song, as did one girl I saw at the day’s end. Well, that’s life, I thought, but it was also sad to think how such vibrant colours should flourish for such short periods of time before being muted and packed away.

Which leads me to the point of this article, if there ever was one, for those still reading. Do get along to one of these university festivals if you can. Before these kids go on to become the next political leaders, or the founders of obscenely successful companies, or famous entertainers or sports figures, or even something humble and anonymous, this is your fleeting chance to see them at play. I obviously can’t vouch that every university festival will be on the scale of Waseda-sai — certainly, Bunka-sai the week before was nowhere near as mammoth — and such events might not make it into every festival listing and tourist calendar, but in my opinion they all exist in a plane of their own. Whereas “traditional” Japanese festivals often have deep cultural roots that stretch back for hundreds of years, these university festivals are very much rooted in the now and offer a unique glimpse into the lives and talent of the modern youth of Japan. There is a certain appeal, especially to the under-30s I’d imagine, of attending a festival that is more or less like a giant cross-campus university party (in this case the festivities also extended to the nearby Toyama campus). And it is giant — here is a quick scene from the closing party at the end of the day:

Shortly afterwards, a number of giant blue balloon balls were deployed into the crowd. Then, shortly after that, a man in a Winnie the Pooh outfit came on stage, with a rather large bright blue bazooka, and after some moments of dancing, fired a huge volley of golden streamers into the air. It was a fittingly oddball end to a raucous weekend, but it also signalled the beginning of what lies at the end of all great parties — the big, big clean-up.

Waseda-sai — Official Website (Japanese Only)
Waseda University – Wikipedia
The Naleio – Official Website