I may have just missed an annual Canadian/American tradition (Thanksgiving) but I just experienced my first real Japanese tradition: the school festival. Every year in Japan, many schools from nursery schools to universities hold cultural festivals called "bunkasai." At my university, students got together in groups and organized either a shop, or food stand or games, performances, ect. It turned out sort of like the Richmond Night Market, only in the day and more fun. My group did a "free market" (I think they meant Flea Market considering they were selling old clothes and things but I didn't correct them). Sean, John and my job was to basically attract people to our shop (which wasn't a bad idea really seeing as everyone looks at us anyway, we may as well be used for marketing purposes). But just in case we alone weren't enough to attract customers, Sean and I were put into Yukatas (see photo: sort of like a kimono, only cotton and not as heavy). Man, I thought people stared before but this was ridiculous! People stared, girls yelled out "KAWAIIIII" and people asked to take photos with me and Sean. It was hilarious for a while until I got very hot and tired of shuffling around (its very hard to take big steps in those things) not to mention very uncomfortable with everyone looking at me. But, all in all, the festival was fun. Our group didn't do overly well, but at the end of the day the girls wanted to to make me look more Japanese so they kept making me try on the unsold clothes which were very cool, but completely not my style (as if Canadians really have any style to being with). I really do not understand Japanese fashion, but they kept telling me that things were "kawaii" and made me take a heap of clothes. I kept insisting on paying (mainly because the money was going to go towards a night out for all of us at an izakaya) but they wouldn't let me. So by the end of the day, I'd bought a big lunch, a back massage, a tea ceremony and a pile of clothes all for about $15. And that was just Saturday!
Sunday, I met with a wonderful Japanese woman (a friend of my host mother) who will be taking me and my host mother to a place called Koya-san next month. We went over details of the trip and how much it would cost me and then we started talking about Japanese Buddhism and the history of this place. It is fascinating. It is on top of of mountain and the heart and soul of Japanese Buddhism. There are many Buddhist temples (one of which I will be staying in overnight) and a very famous graveyard where any and every major Buddhist in Japan is buried. There are many specific things that you must do at the temples and graveyards though, so it was important that we went over them. I really can't wait to go.
After tea, I returned to the festival to watch some of the live shows followed by a lottery game in which packets of mochi (japanese dessert: sooooo good) with a number on the back are thrown into the audience and then numbers are drawn for prizes. We didn't win anything but it was fun anyway. After that were the fireworks and then an after-party with our friends.
Monday, was a holiday on account of the clean-up that needed to be done after the festival so I took the opportunity to go to Nagoya and finally find the Cat Cafe. A Cat Cafe is (very obviously a Japanese invention) a place where one pays to play with cats. It sounds strange but I loved it. These places are built specifically for people like me who love cats but are without them for any number of reasons. There were about 20-25 cats including 2 kittens! As weird as this may sound, I had the time of my life. If you don't love cats, you can't understand.
I think I have accomplished everything that I wanted to do in Nagoya. Now on to Osaka!
I think by the end of this trip my Japanese will be much better but my English will be much worse...
Britt-chan
I miss bad family channel Halloween movies played on repeat all month. Especially Beetlejuice...which isn't bad at all.
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