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Published: February 12th 2007
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Getting back to the grind here in Japan has been a comfortable transition since the holidays. When work is pretty simple and responsibilities for me are at an all time low, daily and weekly routines are pretty easy to re-adjust to. Mornings are relaxing again... pottery and Japanese classes, e-mailing, watching TV, reading. Pretty chilled out. Weekends have been steadily booked, but also relaxing. I've been to a birthday and bachelorette party, a wedding, a New Year's party, a professional drum group concert, and a naked man festival.
Keiko, a friend who's been managing the Nishio school, was married to her husband Hiroyuki on January 21st. A gorgeous bride she was. Weddings in Japan are quite lavish, even moreso in the Nagoya area, so it was interesting to witness some of the planning processes and get to attend the reception. Women wear an average of three different dresses for their wedding day, one for the ceremony, one for the first reception, one for the second reception and/or after parties. The receptions and parties have both a start and end time, allowing the couple to get to the next party. The reception I attended did not have family members present, only
friends and coworkers, as different receptions are generally reserved for different groups of people. There was a supper, a couple of very brief speeches, the cutting of the cake, a bouquet that was handed over, not tossed, and a high-pitched woman running a variety of games by microphone. It was very different, but a good time and I suppose it's a nice way for the couple to include and entertain their friends on their special day.
New Year's parties in Japan are a little different too. They don't necessarily all take place on December 31st, as this Canadian girl might have expected. In fact, one can expect to continue celebrating the new year right through to the end of January with various parties and get-togethers. A good group of people all came out to my favourite new izakaya, Tori Tori on January 27th for one of these such get-togethers. We ate, we drank, we talked, we laughed. Happy New Year!
My first weekend in February was pretty tame, including a lot of lounging and movie watching. I went out on Saturday night with Miyoko and a group of her friends to my first Hekinan Emerald Hall concert. A
percussion group called Gonna put on an awesome show there including a variety of different drums, the marimba (among my favourites), and an accompanying group of chanting monks. It was a really great show, followed by some Japanese snacks and a dinner with Miyoko's kimono-adorned friends. A charming night.
This past weekend was both productive and fun. Saturday lent itself well to dentist and hair appointments, shopping, and a nice yakiniku meal with Chieko and Mayumi. On Sunday, I joined a group of people that Rob and Tracey had invited out to the Tenka Matsuri, also known to some as a naked man festival. The festival was in Toyota, where they first fed us free soup... yummy! There were kendo (I think it was kendo) and taiko performances that were pretty awesome. Kendo is a martial art using sticks or swords. After each fight demonstration, people threw out wrapped coins to show their appreciation to the kids performing. Some older men also performed and were quite entertaining, as some swipes at each other really had us holding our breath. The taiko (drum) performances were done by all different ages of kids and were really great. Some of the older
performers displayed really amazing skill and discipline, and the younger kids were just so sweet to see hammering away on those drums.
Following these performances, a few of us went down the hill to follow up the parade of naked men who were getting psyched up for the big game. So the idea here is that these men, who do wear loin cloths by the way, are separated into two teams: the team of men of unlucky ages, 25 and 42, and the team of these men's friends who are there to ensure that the unlucky men fight hard to cast away their bad luck. Chanting and doing a slow jog up the hill, the men are doused with cold water along the way. They stop at the temple for a blessing, then proceed to the battle field for more dousing and then a fight for a coconut-like ball. It's kind of like keep-away with way too many people. At some points, a few men would break away with the ball, leaving the majority of the men in a corner all fighting to get to the middle of the pack, not even realizing the ball is on the other
end of the field. Pretty funny stuff. Add the bare asses to the mix, it's quite a riot!
That evening we had planned to go to the Hazu Fire Festival as well. Unfortunately, some vandals burned it down the night before. Ironic much? Really too bad though as I've heard that it's really something to see and I had been looking forward to it. We did have a long day though, so it wasn't difficult to just come home and crash.
This Friday, I'll be heading to Bangkok, Thailand and then Siem Reap, Cambodia. I'm really excited about this trip. Eager to spend time with Paula in Bangkok, and I can't wait to take in all that the Angkor temples and the city of Siem Reap have to offer. Stay tuned.
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oh my goodness!
A naked man festival, that is strange. Do they just dance around naked or something.