The Japanese Student Association hosted Samurai Night on Saturday, Nov. 22, at the Student Recreation Center-North at Southeast Missouri State University.

JSA was established in 2012. The organization was created to join students that share the Japanese identity, culture and language.

There are currently 115 members, 60 members are active, and there are 20 Japanese students visiting from Aichi University on campus.

The event had appetizers prepared by the JSA and the atmosphere was exciting from the time attendees entered the space.

There were games being played and activities going on before the live event, including a Print Club where people could take pictures in Kimono attire and the game Struck Out.

Struck Out, a Yuru-Chara competition, is similar to baseball. A player gets nine balls to throw to strike out batters while aiming at the target. The catch is that the balls were light weight with about 16-holes in the ball.

The Yuru-Chara is a Japanese term for a category of mascot characters usually created to promote a place or region, event, organization or business.

Ashleigh Taylor, a student at Southeast, was drawing a picture for the pictorial drawing and having fun participating in the activities.

"A lot of my friends are Japanese, they invited me out and my schedule allowed me to come," Taylor said.

The event was made possible by JSA board members, students and staff, including president Kazuki Kurita, vice president Erina Mori, secretary Ienari Iriguchi, secretary Yuko Meike, event coordinator Ingrid Haguihara, treasurer Kirana Peslaphan and web coordinator Yasuhiro Yoshii.

"We want to explain some of our culture to people who don't know about it, there is traditional and modern Japan, which we will display tonight during the show," Ingrid Haguihara, the event coordinator and one of the MCs for show, said.

After the pre-show activities, more than 400 people were seated and ready for the event to start.

The show started with the traditional Soran Bushi dance, which is a fisherman's folk song from Hokkaido encouraging one to work hard and cheerfully together.

Lyman Pitman, the spokesperson for students in the JSA, spoke briefly.

"I hope you enjoy my students at this event and learn more about my other country," Pitman said.

The show had several entertaining acts including the Bijou, which is a martial art exhibition.

It was then time for dinner. The food served was the Onigiri known as rice ball, which is a Japanese comfort food made from rice, tuna with mayonnaise and many other non-traditional flavors. Karaage, which is a Japanese crispy fried chicken, was also served.

The first part of the show represented the traditional Japan, while the second part of the show represented the modern Japan, which had hip-hop, jazz and ballet.

Kurita was excited about the event.

"I learned a lot putting this event together. I had to stop trying to do everything myself and depend on my board members, if you trust your staff then they will work hard for you," Kurita said. "I want students to join JSA if possible, if not I encourage you to participate in some activities that we do. I envision the SEMO JSA to grow and network with individuals who are dying for quality Japanese food, planning to work in Japan or just looking for friends."

JSA has a Kaiwa Table on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5 - 6 p.m. This is a conversation table where they lecture and discuss events. You don't have to speak Japanese or be a JSA member to attend. You can visit JSA website at semojsa.org.