Yamatai — Cornell's Japanese drumming group — will amaze this Saturday at their annual PULSE event, and Colin Chan '14 will tell you why.

One year after an earthquake and tsunami devastated much of Japan, graduate students and professors from both Cornell and the University of Tokyo gathered to discuss the aftermath of the disaster in a conference on Sunday and Monday.

In the interest of fostering dialogue on the nuclear energy, The Sun solicited the opinions of several knowledgeable professors on the topic — in what will be the first in a series of debates on a host of controversial matters. The aim is to present a sampling of views, which in no way will be entirely comprehensive, but will hopefully allow readers to learn about different topics from a variety of perspectives and disciplines.

In an outpouring of support and solidarity with earthquake-stricken Japan, Cornell students donated more than $5,000 to a campuswide fundraising effort as of Wednesday evening.

Shonen Knife’s definition of themselves as “super-eccentric-pop-punk-cult-band-shonen-knife!” sums them up pretty nicely. Their newest album is called Super Group and shows a band that packs power and is, in all honesty, quite super. Their eccentricity is highlighted by lyrics whose topics range from bike riding to the wonders of banana chips. Their infectious melodies matched with their catchy and simplistic harmonies recall the best in pop music. Their energy and edge represents the same do-it-yourself punk rock attitude that originally brought them together.

Hayao Miyazaki has won many awards for his achievements in directing animation, but to credit him in such a way seems limiting. Miyazaki makes films, not just animated films. Animation is just a medium to him, and not a genre. Perhaps it is a dictate of American culture, an unfortunate result of Disney’s legacy, that animated films are automatically seen to be fare for children. There are obvious exceptions (Beavis and Butthead, South Park, most shows on Adult Swim, etc.), but by and large, animated works, including Miyazaki’s, will always be viewed through a filter as works intended for children.

When considering artwork from Japan, one often thinks of the traditional ukiyo-e woodblock prints that made their way to Europe to inspire the Impressionists. After Hiroshige: A Century of Modern Japanese Prints demonstrates the growing influence in the other direction during the twentieth century — that of West on East. This exhibition at the Johnson Museum emphasizes the push during the Meiji period in Japan for modernization and industrialization, a move reflected in the shin hanga (new prints) and sosaku hanga (creative prints) that became popular during this time. With this new modernization, artists reflected a nostalgia for the past, as well as the growing influence of the West.

At just under five feet in height, Eva Kestner ’09 is one diminutive powder keg. A founding member and now music director of Yamatai, the Cornell taiko group, she not only plays the taiko, an instrument that demands immense strength and flexibility, but has also trained on the piano and timpani and is now teaching herself the guitar. Standing in the basement of her favourite haunt, Lincoln Hall, this soon to be professional taiko player (and member of the Japanese taiko group Bonten) talks about her journey as an artist, her influences and inspirations and the future of taiko music.

Sun: How did you get involved in Taiko?

I’ve wanted to study abroad in Japan for some years now, and for the short time I’ve been here — about two weeks — it certainly hasn’t disappointed. It’s definitely been a place of new experiences and new friends, some of which I will never forget.