The Flash Mob Club at Bellevue College is a newly established club that has gained a lot of interest from students. The club founder, Tomoki Arakawa, is an International Business Professions program student. He and two other students, Emu Nakamura and Kei Osawa started to gather people to do their first flash mob last spring quarter, and they are currently working on other events for the future.
Arakawa did not intentionally create the club. The club was established to make it easier for people to gather. According to Arakawa, clubs have more benefits such as “smoother” paperwork, advertisements through the advisors, etc.
The initial purpose of Arakawa creating a flash mob club was because, as an IBP student, his level of English is not that great and it’s hard for him to make friends with a language barrier. So he gathered people in order to build a communication bridge and make new friends.
Kei Osawa, one of the other promoters of the club, was the one who suggested the song for the club’s first flash mob in spring 2011. She was inspired by the video of the US Military Service Members stationed in Okinawa, Japan who posted a YouTube video of them performing a flash mob in American Village, Okinawa, Japan. They performed the song, Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO ft. GoonRock & Lauren Bennett, the song which Osawa decided to use for their first flash mob.
Emu Nakamura, the other founder of the club said, “I still remember when I met Tom [Arakawa] first time, we watch the Flash mob on the YouTube. This is the first time I knew about the Flash Mob because this was not famous in my home country, Japan.” Arakawa, on the other hand, did not know what a flash mob was until a club advisor posted a flash mob video on Facebook and that inspired him to create one at BC.
Nakamura’s future goal for the club is to get more American students involved. Currently, majority of the people in the club are international students. Even though many of them come from various countries, Nakamura feels that it would be great if the international students could build a relationship with the local American students.
The Flash Mob Club does not meet regularly. They usually meet up to practice about one month before the ‘d-day.’ Currently, the club is working on a Halloween themed flash mob to celebrate Halloween that’s coming up soon, but to also raise awareness of the Halloween Dance that will be held at BC on Oct. 25.
Pratishtha Chhabra, Debate Club President is excited to join the Flash Mob Club. She likes to dance and thinks that it’s a great opportunity to meet people by joining the club. “ I would have never met her [Osawa] …. I feel like a part of the Bellevue College community.” Many participants of the flash mob are people from the Associated Student Government, Photography Club, International Student Association, and others. This allows students to meet new people and increase their connections.
For more information about the Flash Mob Club, students are welcomed to email Tomoki Arakawa at tom0820212@bellevuecollege.edu.