By Gabriel Lihan & Neville Timothy Sanders
KUCHING: A batch of 14 Japanese students currently on a five-day visit to the state capital are mesmerized by the beautiful Sarawak traditional dances, costumes and music.
The students from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies who are on their second day here took part in a trip to Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) to experience the different houses and longhouses available to the communities in Sarawak.
Some of the places visited were – Iban longhouse, Bidayuh longhouse, Melanau longouse, the Orang Ulu longhouse, Chinese farm house, and the Malay house..
The students arrived at SCV at 10am, and went on the bamboo bridge to explore the various types of decorative designs of the various houses there.
They later watched and enjoyed the cultural performances by the dancers of SCV besides trying some of the local food and delicacies.
Among of the visiting students, who were impressed by the diverse races and cultures of Sarawak was Nonoka Nakazawa, 20.
She said she was attracted to the colours of the different costumes worn by the dancers and she thought that these designs were very unique.
“Unlike in Japan, we wear one type of costume but here I was so amazed by the different types of costumes representing the races and cultures here”, she said.
Another student from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies said that the costumes were very beautiful and the dances looked really fun!
“I enjoyed the performances and was really entertained by the dances of the dancers”, said Haruka Masaki, 19.
After their visit to SCV, they went to teach the Japanese language at a local school, SMK Santubong, to about 50 students .
The students from Tokyo are in Kuching for a five-day ‘Program Kembara Ilmu Inap Desa TUFS 2022’. They arrived at Kuching International Airport yesterday, and will leave on Monday (Sept 5).
