JAIMS Celebrates Chinese New Year

HONOLULU— JAIMS welcomed their most animated and colorful guest to help herald in the Chinese New Year. A traditional Chinese lion danced through the halls of JAIMS to bring happiness and good luck on this, the Year of the Snake on the Chinese calendar.

Along with JAIMS faculty, staff, and students, children from Kuapa Pre-School were also invited to watch the festivities as the lion made a spectacular performance on the JAIMS front lawn where shrieks of excitement and delight erupted from the youngsters.

Responsible for this performance was the Hawaii Foundation for Chinese Culture and Arts (HFCCA) who later held a special lecture on the front lawn.

Leon Letoto, President of the HFCCA, commented on the differences between Northern and Southern lion styles as well as the difficulty of performing these dances that can last for well over twenty minutes.

"It is really a test of endurance," Letoto said, who has performed lion dances for over twenty years.

Following his lecture, he invited JAIMS students in the Japan-focused MBA (JEMBA) and China-focused MBA (CHEMBA) programs to participate in playing the instruments and practicing traditional lion dance moves.

Yen Chun, Manager of the JAIMS Business Madarin Program, believed it was a great way to create a festive mood as well as to educate participants about the Chinese culture.

"Through these activities," she said, "our students and staff have exposure to other cultures and thus have better cross-cultural understanding."