Festivals and the weekend

Thursday night (8/17) Christine and I were invited to a local temple Obon festival. Obon is a big summer festival (all about Obon). The temple is actually the street parallel to ours, so as we turned down this tiny dark alley, you could see faint white and red lights lining the temple walls. The office ladies found us walking down there pretty quickly (being the tall foreign girl, I’m pretty easy to spot). They took us to the actual temple, where a priest was chanting and lots of people were sitting behind him. We went up a couple wooden steps, took off our shoes, and were ushered to the “kids corner” to sit on the tatami (rice mats). Some kids were being noisy and playing with the giant prayer beads on the floor, so we were probably sat there so if we were going to be a distraction, we were with the rest of the group. There were giant wooden prayer beads in the middle of the floor, in which no one sat. It was explain to me later that each bead was from a family for prayer for a member. The priest and two laymen did chants and rang bells and song bowls. Since I study Buddhism, I could actually understand the priest and the iconography surrounding him… but I still haven’t mastered my washing machine. Haha.

Afterwards, they gave rice crackers to all the kids (and us) and were led to a small tatami filled room on a dark winding path. We were going to be blessed with a tea ceremony with the head of our department, Kacho, and office lady Kawaguchi, her 3-year old grandson and another elderly lady. Elegant young girls dressed in yukata (summer kimonos) came in and presented us with a marshmallow fish (the other ceremony I was in it was a cracker). Then out came the tea they make on the premise. It’s a little thick and foamy and bitter, but it’s authentic! They set the bowl of tea in front of you, turn it, then you pick it up, turn it, then drink. There’s more turning involved, but I’m not sure, I should really read up on it.

After putting our shoes back on outside, we headed towards the drums and music! A large stand was in the middle of a clearing, with someone playing a taiko drum to old prerecorded music while people in yukatas danced around it (think high class line dancing… in a circle –video soon-). It was on a few minutes before the head of our department pulled us in to dance dances we had never seen, much less practiced. Lots of clapping, and arm movement and foot taps. I seemed to be getting the hang of it, but poor Chris! Everyone seemed to really enjoy us at least trying and making fools of ourselves.

Watch a video of Obondori:

After 5 or 6 dances I was pouring sweat and had to stop. Soon after, people ran up to us with ice cream cones. I had to tactfully decline, but the head of the department was more than happy to take it for me! Then cold tea was being given out in little ceramic cups. A random old guy came up and said, Why are you drinking tea?! You need to drink beer! As this happened, I was finishing my tea, but he grabbed Chris’s tea cup from her, and gave us both plastic cups of beer. And we never saw him again. It’s funny, people give me a hard time here saying it’s SO hard to be vegan in Japan (those people just don’t know how to cook!), but honestly, I think it would be harder for someone who didn’t drink (at least in the working world I’m now apart of). It’s constantly offered and the more you accept, the more you’re loved.

We take in the scene and try to cool off in the humid night, and Kacho says LETS GO! And we follow him out of the temple, not sure where we are going. We go into a little mom and pop restaurant with about 10 barstools. Every time someone comes in, everyone else has to scoot down to make room. Everyone is nice, some are goofy, some may be a little apprehensive, but all nice. There is a spot on the other side for maybe 2 traditional sit-down tables on tatami mats, but bento boxes (lunch trays) are filling them up. They’re about half full, and the staff of 3 is working to fill them up. They’re going to take them to the temple. Kacho-san orders us two large mugs of beer and food. We don’t really want to drink or eat… but it falls on deaf ears. We chat a bit with the chefs and the locals. Kacho tells me to drink faster and orders us 3 things of spinach (have I mentioned I don’t really like beer and I hate cooked spinach?) We even say, “We’re really full!” I choke down about 4 bites of spinach and I have to stop. A woman walks in the place, I look over because its natural to look at people who walk in. We lock eyes. Her head starts to shake with like 4 million double takes. I really took her by surprise! We definitely want to go back and hang out and become locals!

Friday night was filled with shopping adventures with 2 other JETs who just happen to be from the Kent/Akron area and live about an hour or so from me here! We found an arcade and we played Taiko drum video game, Dance Dance Revolution SuperNova, and Mario Kart! Earlier in the night along with Chris we went to hunt down a rumored Indian Restaurant called Majarahja. We found it, although the sign said “Mach Raja”. Not a lot of choices food wise, but the lady who ran the shop let us in early because it was raining and served us coffee. The food was good and the naan huge. What else do you want?

Saturday (8/19) came the real town Obon festival. Hundreds and hundreds of people. The office ladies dressed us up in yukatas and geta (traditional wooden shoes…. That hurt). Amazingly, I think they’re cooler than if I had been wearing a tshirt and jeans. Maybe because they absorb sweat? Free tea and balloons! More taiko drums and lots and lots of dancers, including mentally challenged which I found endearing. Did I mention we had to give a speech in front of these hundreds and hundreds of people? I botched up real bad, I’d rather forget about it. It didn’t help that when I started talking more cameras came out (Chris’s heritage is Korean, so she can blend in.. but me! A sore thumb!) Hopefully they thought it was cute and weren’t disgusted. After that horribleness, we did a few more dances with Kacho and everyone, and then got some shaved ice (I got the flavor “Blue Hawaii”). Everyone also liked to point out how big my feet were (hanging off of the geta in the front and back) and how long my toes were. I told them I had monkey toes. Lots of laughs.

I played a game where you try to win goldfish (like little koi goldfish.. not the goldfish at fairs we know). I failed miserably, but she gives losers 3 fish anyways. I have named them Tudor, Biscuit (both white with red splotch on their heads), and Wally (all light gold). I bought them all sorts of cool fish things and probably are living better than 98% of their kin..They’re just getting the hang of trying to figure out how to eat the food from the top.

Not the best picture, but fireworks, fish, and shaved ice!

Then of course, the fireworks!

Sunday was just full of a relaxing day of shopping. No time limits, no place to be… it was really nice. I got a couple Indian curry mixes. Yum! And a folder and notepad, other cheap life necessaries. It’s actually Sunday night right now as I’m typing this to post tomorrow, and I must say, I really miss watching Adult Swim on Sunday nights. Only the news is on now… I put that on in the morning and try to make some sense of it.

In other news , I bought some nice little speakers to play my MP3 player though. They were the most expensive, but had the best sound, and with how much I listen to music, well worth the investment. I put them in the kitchen, since that’s where I am the most! I met a guy that has worked in Komono for the past 4 years (we actually have the same Supervisor), so he gave me some tips for the schools. And I bumped into another JET not too far from here at the 100yen store (dollar store… but so much better)

Japan’s women’s volleyball team is in the world championships (from what I gather) so the TV nation is pretty volleyball crazy right now. You would think it would be boring, but it moves really quickly and with high velocity balls getting smashed in people’s faces, it’s pretty exciting.

My birthday is in a month, and I am planning on going to Tokyo Game Show for it. It’s a really big video game convention, its only about $10, you get loads of free things, get sneak peaks and stuff, and get to play new, old, and unreleased games! I am looking forward to playing with the Nintendo Wii. Oh, and if you bring your DS you get tons of free games. Wee!

Here is a video walk-thru of my apartment: