Pandemonium for Japandemonium

Stuyvesant hosted its annual Japandemonium, an event held exclusively for students in the Japanese department, on Saturday, May 25, in the cafeteria. It served as an opportunity for students to bond over Japanese culture through team-based games such as “japardy,” also known as Japanese jeopardy, tug of war, relay races, and an anpan race, a game that involves jumping to bite a sweet roll filled with red bean paste.

Members of the Japanese department were split into groups of eight people, each consisting of students from all grade levels. This year’s theme, meat, contributed to team names such as “chicken” and “beef.”

The event was coordinated by Japanese teacher Chie Helinski, who had been organizing the event for four months. Preparation for this event started in February to determine costs, invitations, food, and the date. In April, students from the honor society and additional volunteers contributed by helping decide on which events and games should be included.

There were several changes made to Japandemonium this year. This year’s event was the first time Japandemonium held a game of tug of war. This replaced the choreography students often found too labor intensive to do. Inspired by a competition seen on a Korean show, Helsinki also implemented a new game called “silent scream.”

Sophomore Bwohan Wang described the game as similar to the whisper challenge. “Everyone had headphones, and they were playing so you couldn’t hear anything. Sensei, our teacher, would give one of the students a four-syllable word to say, and you would just say it to the next person so on and so forth until you reached the last person. If you got it right, you got points, and if not, you didn’t get points,” he said.

For attendees, the annual anpan race was especially memorable. “There was the anpan race where you jump and have to bite a bun which is hung up on a string that someone is holding. You have to be the first to jump and be the first to grab it. There [were] a bunch of events like that, and teams had to determine a winner and loser. My team was actually the loser, so we had to eat wasabi that was the size of a rice ball,” sophomore Dario Cipani said.

Helinski initially created Japandemonium to allow all students in the Japanese department to participate in cultural games. “In the past, we did Japan Bowl, which is a competition, but I can only take from each level [...] a group of three students, so it’s for the top students. And honor society is also for those students who have the grades, and I wanted to do something for the entire student body [that] is taking the Japanese program regardless of the grades,” Helinski said. “They equally enjoy the program and the culture. [...] I stopped doing Japan Bowl and switched over to Japandemonium, which is more inclusive.”

Students believe that Japandemonium has great significance for a variety of reasons. “The Japanese department is pretty small compared to the other departments and this event really allowed for us to bond more. Having such a small department, it was really important for all the students [and] the coordinators to support the department by attending the event. This event also provided a great opportunity for many students to learn and immerse themselves in Japanese culture through the games and the food,” sophomore Josslyn Kim said.

However, they also see improvements to be made. “Some of the events were a bit haphazard. They weren’t really organized [...] well as there were too many students participating. But in general, it was pretty organized and I think they [the Japanese department] did a good job,” Wang said. According to Kim, more food could have been provided to students considering that the event was eight hours long.

Despite these issues, many participants of Japandemonium felt that they had a great experience bonding over Japanese culture and agreed that other language departments should create their own respective versions of Japandemonium. Though this endeavor would require a lot of time and effort, as seen in the Japanese department, students believe that such an event would render a lot of positive memories for its participants.

In the future, Helinski wishes to find a way to successfully incorporate alumni who return to help with Japandemonium. “I want them to be still a part of the program, but they cannot overpower the kids who are in the program so there’s a balance. I never had 16 kids coming to volunteer. In the past, it was five or six,” Helinski said.

“Overall, Japandemonium is an event for students to have fun without worrying about grades. It’s really a cultural experience. I want them to understand Japanese culture, but also I want them to meet other students who take the language,” Helinski said.