Tag: Japanese life

Kameshima

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In April earlier this year, my boyfriend and I went out on a random adventure and ended up in Itsuwa, at an island called Kameshima (亀島), or Turtle Island. So often I am surprised and intrigued by places that aren’t quite on the tourist and/or sightseeing path, but are locally well known and part of everyday citizens lives.

So Kameshima is – you guessed it – shaped like a turtle, and sticks out of the water a short ways offshore. You can walk to it at low tide, but once it’s high tide you might need a boat to get back! Many locals here come to catch bugs or small fish with their children, some elder locals come out to fish or collect seaweed for making their own food.

I was a little surprised by some of the sights pictured in some of these photos. I expected little to nothing to be on the island when we originally trekked over, but once we got there we spotted a number of items. My personal favorite was the down-and-out, yet likely functioning port-o-potty. The cabin with someone’s homemade hunting equipment left there was up there with the potty though. It was quite surprising, making me surmise that someone lived there. (A friend informed me afterward that they think the city of Itsuwa rents the cabin out to interested parties, which makes sense. But does it lock? And who uses it when no one is there? A city official with an urge to return to the wild? ;) ) A well and a wheelbarrow were also spotted on the scene.

There’s not too much to do on the island itself if you’re not staying there to maroon yourself for a few days, but it’s worth a trip out to walk on and adventure about in your free time. We enjoyed it quite a bit!

 

Shimoda Onsen Matsuri [Onna Mikoshi Oyu Kake] 下田温泉祭-女みこしお湯かけ-

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I very recently participated in the Shimoda Onsen Matsuri in the Women’s Portable Shrine Carrying event. This event was last Sunday, and was a rare, interesting, off-putting, yet all-around valuable experience for those of us involved as foreigners.

2015-06-07 08.53.30 HDRThe day began earlier than usual, with us meeting up at 6:30 am to get to the venue at 7:30 am to get our hair prepared and get into our loaned costumes. There was a bit of confusion initially because the name of the meeting place building changed and the flyer wasn’t updated to show the new name.

When we arrived, we stepped into our strange diaper wrap pants, our nurse’s scrub tops, and our taiko aprons and we were looking pretty interesting if I say so myself. The pants were definitely odd; they gave us all a strange breezy feeling, which is appreciated in summer but not so much for the built-in holes in the crotch and bum areas. It results in a rather constant paranoia that your private areas are being revealed. But for events like this, this is pretty traditional wear, so I was happy to put it on and look as Japanese as is possible for someone who already stands out like a sore thumb.

2015-06-07 08.31.28After getting into costume, we all received some interesting hair-do’s; mine resembling a small fluffy animal pinned on the back of my head at an odd angle, with 2 cornrow like twists on the left upper side of my head, a braided row on the bottom right side. We thought the hairstyle was going to be an elaborate affair, or at least I did, so I was pretty surprised to see the results.

Once this stage was complete, we had quite a lot of time to spare with our early arrival, so we went to roam around the main festival street. Festival food is pretty nostalgic for me, so I always pick up something, and that day I grabbed an iced coffee and a crepe. It was a pretty good start to the morning. We then talked at length with another ALT’s studentss, some of whom were veterans of the Onna Mikoshi event, and advised us to go acquire our pink towels to put on our shoulders due to the weight of the mikoshi. It was pretty helpful and worth it, because as we all realized later, that mikoshi is heavier than it looks! On quite another point though, a reality I’ve found from being foreign here: I will say that although I know it’s daunting to be a foreigner here at times, I still think people should ask before taking photos of us walking around. Photos while we are doing the event are great, by all means, but while we’re just walking about trying to live life it’s rather exhausting. Just because people can see that we’re different doesn’t mean they have the right to ask personal questions like where we live or take pictures of us willy nilly. [Soapbox over.]

2015-06-07 08.34.17The first leg of the carry involved a very steep learning curve: with the height differential it’s tough to carry for tall people. Plus there was a lot of stepping on other people’s feet and everyone received many steppings-on. So it was lucky that the water wasn’t being thrown for the first half of our effort. After we took a break and got going for the second leg though, the hot onsen water-throwing commenced. It was quite warm at first, and a nice sensation, but as we walked on it inevitably cooled and felt less sensational. It occurred to me that only in Japan would you give a group of people a heavy item to carry, then throw hot water on them to make the situation more precarious and dangerous. And no liability waiver was required! ^__^

Considering all the ups and downs, it was a valuable experience and I really enjoyed myself. I think it’s pretty rare that women get to carry the mikoshi, so to be involved and experience it, though challenging, was well worth the time invested.

Please check out the Asahi Shimbun article if you have a moment! It’s all in Japanese, but they have a better quality photo of us as we participated in the event. Most of us have our eyes closed because tons of water was coming our way and hitting us in the eyes and mouth and ears. It was still a really fun experience though. :)

Yamaga Toro Festival -山鹿灯籠祭-

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This is a photo roundup of the Yamaga Toro Matsuri, an Obon festival held in August every year by the city of Yamaga in Kumamoto Prefecture. This festival is a crowded one indeed, but worth a visit, as it features several traditional dances, among which is the 1000 Person Lantern Dance, or Sennin Toro Odori (千人灯籠踊り). As you can tell from the images below, 1000 female participants perform a traditional dance in traditional garb, all with a lantern placed delicately upon their crowns. At the close of the festival, at a shrine a bit uphill from the elementary grounds the dance was performed at, many groups gift scale models of traditional buildings or scenes to the shrine, which are then blessed by a Shinto priest and received by the shrine. To my extreme surprise, as I went to grab an omikuji, or fortune, at the reception area alongside the shrine, I was told I won a prize! Which was a silver paper lantern just like those the dancers wore! So the festival ended on a nice note for me, with just the right amount of luck – daikichi, or big luck! :)

Yatsushiro Fireworks Festival 八代花火大会

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Throughout Japan, there are several national festivals celebrating fireworks, where many well-known fireworks-makers get together and show off their products. One of these occurs relatively close to my placement in a town called Yatsushiro. This is one of the more crowded events I’ve been to in Japan, because everyone goes crazy for a fireworks show here, not to say I blame them. This type of show is usually worth a visit due to the breadth and depth of the show, showcasing works for a good hour or two.

I decided to attend the event with a friend, and we rode into town on the train a good hour before the show started. As some of my friends realized after the fact, traffic is horrible in the area surrounding the event space, which spans both sides of a river and most roads in the Japanese countryside are one lane, so it’s advisable to use public transport at times like these. The show didn’t start until 6 but we headed down at about 4:30, which was a really good call! As I said before, this is a crowded event, and even at 4:30 the trolley to the train station and subsequently the train was filled to the brink with people. Thanks to being an obvious foreigner, I was somewhat spared the people sandwiching due to my natural ‘gaikokujin aura,’ holding the Japanese around me at arm’s length through no effort of my own.

This particular show is held in late summer, so it’s a bit hot if you go, but if you bring a blanket or a chair and a couple of buds to man the space while you each track down snacks and drinks, it’s a great time. A lot of fireworks companies apparently come down to the area to showcase some of their better fireworks, with small breaks in between each company’s display. It was really worth seeing, so if you notice there’s one around you, definitely go at least once!