I know I've been a bit of a no-show the last few days but yeah... I had stuff to do.
I've been preparing for a speech I was supposed to do at our school's annual culture festival (which is this friday and saturday) but now got postponed to somewhere in november or something.
But the important news is: I went to a matsuri! A matsuri is like the Japanese version of what I would call a "kermis" in Dutch. Only it's filled with food stalls and street performers (and cute kids in traditional Japanese clothing (there is NOTHING on this earth that's cuter than grade school girls in kimono. Nothing). Besides that there are traditional Japanese dance performances and they go around with like stuff from local shrines and big statues and stuff!
For the pictures see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/42370919@N07/sets/72157622479998980/
Yeah!
Anyway so saturday evening my sister comes up to me and says like "Hey, you wanted to go to a matsuri right? There's one in Hadano tomorrow!"
By pure divine luck my o-nee-chan found out about what I think was the last matsuri in our province. (I'm not even sure Hadano IS in our province though... It was quite far by train. It's on the Odawara line I think, about half an hour from Sagami-Oono or something, I don't quite remember. It's after Hon-Atsugi anyway so it is quite far).
The thing was: I had to go alone. My host sister had part-time job on sunday, my host father had football training and my host mother had something else that I don't quite understand to do. So I was completely alone.
But, despite that, I bravely stepped on the train on sunday morning and found my way quite easily to Hadano.
Arriving there the matsuri was noticeable from within the station. They were handing out flyers with maps and event time tables at the station exits. Outside the station I saw some wacked Japanese young'uns doing some serious breakdancing! (I think I taped it but by the time you get to see that video it'll be next week I think :P I'll put the mix of everything I taped on youtube soon enough).
The food smell was... everywhere. And not just meat or sweet stuff, anything.
They were selling drinks and stuff down the stairs to the station. And giant Stitch teddies.
Anyway I had a rather good mental image of the town map in my head so I walked upstream (sort of quite literally) to the local primary school (that's where most of the events were being hosted).
There I bought myself a bag of strawberry icy lemonade (a bag, yes).
Though it was good and refreshing the guy at the stall selling it was a total creep. (Creep, not Creap. Creap is the stuff my host mom puts in her coffee. It's short for CREAmy Powder. It cracks me up every time).
Apparently I was there just in time to see the parade leave. Wasn't much of a parade. Some people in like traditional Japanese outfit but it was mostly parents of children from the local schools. Apparently I missed the awa-odori (traditional japanese dancing) because it was saturday. Zannen deshita (too bad), as Toyomu would say :D
That's all for today, I'll post more tomorrow!
O-tanoshimi-ni! (Look forward to it!)
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