Last weekend my buddy Trev called me and told me to come out to check out a festival in Kurashiki. He was there with his wife, Wakako, and their son, Noah. As it's only 15 minutes by train, I headed out to meet them. I'm not really sure what the festival was all about, but it consisted of probably 20 or 30 different groups of people dancing (mostly older women or children), usually employing a fan or a baton. Most of the groups had elaborate costumes.
While the groups were dancing, this dude in the top picture, and others like him, were going around scaring the crap out of little children. Apparently once the kids started crying, they would give them candy. Quite a deal for the kids.
Japan is the land of cute, and so companies like Disney, and whoever makes Winnie the Pooh and Snoopy, make a huge amount of money mainly from Japanese women, who seem to own at least 50 different products featuring their favourite character. Because of this fascination with things that are cute, it would not be a festival without ridiculously cute company mascots. The one in the middle picture was walking around getting booted in the ass by kids. We tried to guess what it's supposed to be, but are still undecided. Trev thought it might be some kind of loaf of bread, but that doesn't explain the leaves growing out of its head.
In the last picture, you can see a group of older women with their candy
cane-like batons.
I went to Kyoto on Monday last weekend (it was a holiday) for Gion Matsuri, which is one of the biggest festivals in all of Japan. It dates back to the 9th century and I read that it was started as a way to ward off plague during the humid summer months.
It is essentially a big parade, and I think each ward (like a small neighbourhood) of Kyoto has its own float. Each float is pulled by men (no women allowed), and as you can see in the bottom picture, more men ride inside and on top.
On the sides of each float are very old,very expensive tapestries. Unfortunately, because it's the end of the rainy season, it was raining really hard and so the tapestries were covered with sheets of plastic.
Apparently this is the #1 tourist attraction in all of Japan. Somewhat hard to believe because it's definitely not the best, but part of the reason is that Osaka is the 2nd or 3rd biggest city in Japan, and there's really nothing else worth seeing there. So everyone who visits Osaka goes to the castle. It's still a very interesting castle and definitely worth checking out, however I just think being #1 in all of Japan is unwarranted. I can think of several other places I have seen that I would recommend first.
Anyways, it was originally built in the 16th century, but destroyed several times over the years during wars. The current version was built from concrete in 1931, and survived the heavy bombing Osaka received during World War II.
You can go inside all the way to the top on the 8th floor, and you can get a spectacular view of the city in every direction. I went there early on a Sunday morning, and it was overrun with busloads of Chinese tourists.The bottom picture shows the south moat, and how difficult it would be for intruders to scale the walls.
I saw this sign awhile ago when I was in Arashiyama, near Kyoto. It was on the side of a forested hill where monkeys live. I can't read most of it, but I think it says, "Be careful with your cigarette butts and fireworks because monkeys' asses are highly flammable."
Every year most of Japan (excluding Hokkaido I believe) gets a rainy season. In Okayama, it starts early June, and should be ending in about 2 weeks. The rain doesn't really bother me, although as I don't have a car here, riding my bike in a monsoon gets old real quick. The worst part, however, is the humidity. You're either getting drenched outside in the rain, or you're inside with beads of sweat developing all over your body. Apparently it's not uncommon for government-owned places (e.g. schools and community centres, both places I teach) to not have AC. It's sure a lot of fun teaching 70 crazy, screaming kids when you're sweating like a pig (I assume the sarcasm is evident).
The funny thing is, although I'm looking forward to the end of the rainy season, it's followed by the unbelievably hot season - not much of an improvement, but a change nonetheless.
Because the weather's been so crappy, I haven't gone anywhere cool lately. However, in about 2 weeks I'm heading to Kyoto for Gion Matsuri, which I've heard is one of the best festivals in Japan. Kyoto is pretty much booked-out, so I'm planning to stay in my first capsule hotel in Osaka. If I do, I'll post some pictures.
The picture at the top is at Nanzenji in Kyoto about a month ago. The picture below is the super-sweet view from my "patio".
Last weekend my buddy Trev called me and told me to come out to check out a festival in Kurashiki. He was there with his wife, Wakako, and their son, Noah. As it's only 15 minutes by train, I headed out to meet them. I'm not really sure what the festival was all about, but it consisted of probably 20 or 30 different groups of people dancing (mostly older women or children), usually employing a fan or a baton. Most of the groups had elaborate costumes.
cane-like batons.
