Sake Matsuri (a.k.a. Sake Festival!!)

Once a year sake lovers from all over Japan gather in Saijo to sample each regions' finest sake... and let me tell you... this is a GREAT idea!!! For 1,500 Yen (about $16 Can.) you are given a once ounce sized sake glass which you walk around with to sample as much sake as you possibly can hold/tolerate. (Oh, "sake" is a Japanese alcoholic drink. The dictionary says that it is rice wine, but it can be made from rice, sweet potatoes, and many other things.) There were hundreds of sake samples to try at this festival, and it was an all weekend event.

My friends and I arrived at the festival around 1:30 pm, and "sampled" until 8pm when they closed down for the day. I have never been a fan of sake (as it tastes a little like wine), but I thought that maybe it would begin to taste better after 3 or 4 drinks. Boy, was I wrong!!! It doesn't get better, it gets worse! (I am completely speaking from personal experience, there were many others there that loved the taste of it.) 6.5 hours later I was still hating sake, however, I was much more "happy" to be hating it, possibly because I was having sooo much fun! It was such a good atmosphere to be in... everyone was trashed! There were random Japanese men passed out in the middle of the park paths, every stranger seemed to want to be our friend, and they loved taking our pictures! A good time was definately had by all (but the next morning might have been another story)!

Highlights of the festival (well, besides the "all-you-can-drink" concept):

My friend Casey chanting a rather rude Japanese sentence and thrusting her hips around infront of a group of guys, only to get them to join in on the chant and actions, and having the older people looking on in surprise! "Chin chin bu-di bu-di so-se-ji!"

Meeting up with my students (from adult conversation class) and trying not to appear drunk... didn't work!

Experiencing my first co-ed public washroom... I probably would have been more mature about this if I hadn't already had 15 drinks, but, atleast I wasn't the one taking pictures of the men at the urinals!

Deciding that we for some reason should continue to drink at a bar/club afterwards... and then stopping at the convienence store to buy drinks for pre-drinking!


Saturday was just the perfect day! After the festival there were about 10 of us who took the train back to Hiroshima City to go to a club. (And yes, we drank for the entire 45 minute train ride too!) When we arrived in Hiroshima it was only 9 or 10 pm (can't quite remember) so it was still too early to go to a club.... so we drank some more. By the time we got to the club we were all ridiculous, but having a GREAT time! I somehow managed to stay awake and alert until 4:30am when I decided it was time for me to leave the club... from there we went and ate rice and egg salad sandwiches in the street (we actually were sitting ON the street at this point), and then we went to an Internet cafe for an hour of sleep before we could catch the first bus (the buses don't run overnight) back in the morning. At 5:55am I jumped on the bus and went to the closest house I could think of... my friend Casey's. Luckily, they were all pretty drunk when they got home the night before, because the front door was still wide open, so I didn't even have to wake anyone up to get them to let me in.

I am not going to talk about Sunday (or Sunday morning) because it wasn't fun!

And that is my experience of the sake matsuri in Saijo!

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