Students helped feed hungry children by making paper onigiri and posting a picture of it to social media for Onigiri Action on Tuesday, Oct. 5.
For every post using the hashtag #OnigiriAction, the nonprofit organization, Table for Two, will donate five meals to children in need. The photos can contain real and edible onigiri and even posts of arts and crafts of the traditional Japanese dish count towards donations as well.
Nanaka Okamura took advantage of this creative loophole when she had her students follow an origami pattern and create an onigiri shaped stamp out of repurposed toilet paper rolls. Okamura emphasized the importance Onigiri Action can have on the world.
“Just taking a picture and post to Instagram, it’s too easy right?” said Okamura in an interview.
Onigiri Action is a yearly event held by Table for Two in celebration of World Food Day. Table for Two is a nonprofit organization that started in Japan and has expanded to the United States. According to their website, Table for Two’s goal is to provide healthy meals to North America and East Africa.
World Food Day, according to their website, is an event that was made after the creation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The organization uses this event to spread awareness about world hunger and 150 countries participate in the event.
Paying homage to Table for Two’s origins, Onigiri Action celebrates one of Japan’s staple foods: onigiri. Onigiri, as said by a Table for Two YouTube video, is a traditional Japanese rice ball that typically have fillings like salmon, tuna or seaweed.
Okamura hosted the event as a coordinator of the Japanese Outreach Initiative (JOI), a program that sends volunteers from Japan to locations around the world to host events that teach others about Japanese culture. Okamura will be the JOI coordinator at Western Carolina University for two years.
Okamura loved not only how easily she could help people with this event, but that it was also an opportunity to teach others about an integral part of Japanese culture.
Michael Pilotos, a Japanese Language major, says he has learned more about Japanese culture from the events Okamura hosts than he has in a classroom.
Okamura hopes to reach Western students and faculty outside of the Japanese Language program, especially those who have not had access to Japanese culture before.
On Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. Tuesday in McKee 121, Okamura will host another event called Chopstick Challenge. These weekly events are extra credit for students in the Japanese Language program, but anyone is welcome to attend.
