竿燈祭り・Kanto festival

3 August ~ 6 August - and I went there every day.

So it might be best to talk about what Kanto actually is.

Firstly, it is a really old festival. It has a history of more than 3oo years, starting from the Meiji era and during that time it was celebrated to pray for a good rice harvest and the lanterns were to symbolize the rice stalks swaying in the wind. It was a small local celebration then with about 20 or more Kanto lantern pillars, but nowadays the amount of pillars has increased more than 10 fold and the festival has even caught the eyes of people overseas.

As by tradition, the lanterns are only carried by men due to the heaviness, but until the end of elementary school girls can also take part of the carrying (the smallest lanterns are about 5 kilos to 10). Afterwards they can be the taiko drum or flute players (most of the players actually are girls).

An essential part of Kanto - music. You can hear it from afar even not seeing the lanterns and already your hairs start to stand up. It's just so powerful. I can't really imagine the parade without the music. It just wouldn't be the real thing. But no can it be Kanto without the lanterns, now can it? Also the hayashi kotoba/kakigoe or the accompanying shouts to cheer the people on - 'dokkoisho, dokkoisho' is mostly heard, but the full-length version is actually 'dokkoishossho, dokkoisho, oetasaa, oetasa, nekko tsuita, oetasa' which of course is too long to say all the time (and has almost no meaning), but during today's last show it was shouted out in the speakers.

The usual festival hours were from 7 in the evening till about 9, but it sadly felt even shorter.

The towering lanterns over everybody's heads were so enchanting and magnificent that you just couldn't turn your eyes away. They quite scarily resembled people, walking slowly in the streets, bowing when the accidentally run into one another, scramble a bit and then slowly move on, gently swaying in balance of the people holding them on their shoulders, hips or foreheads.

Compared to the gentle lanterns, the people under them were running around like frantic ants on a hot summer day, which actually was true - it was hot and sweaty as in a sauna.

I can't say that it was a simple festival, but compared to all the complicated things in the world, it might have been the most clear example of the natural balance of everything - rapidness and calm, light and shadow, dream and awake... Yin and Yang in a really magical form.

But I most clearly remember today - the last of Kanto.

Different from usual, I didn't go far from the entry road along the pavement, but stayed near the crossroads where small children were gathering with their parents. Because there was a lot of space and a good view over the little heads I thought it might be the best place for me too to enjoy the show. Also concerning Kanto, it was the curve where the paraders turned around to go for the next round in the Kanto Road and for that there was a wide open agora (or in other words the fore-mentioned crossroads) to do the turn more easily. A lot of performing groups gathered there and it looked really crowded both on the ground and in the air. I arrived there during the end of the second performance and the beginning of the last. When the final whistle blew you could just see the flashing cheery eyes of the lantern holders, the stand-byes and the musicians. Whilst in air, the lanterns started to dance their gentle hypnosis for the last time, but then something even more intriguing happened. One person lost his balance and one of the Kanto pillars fell. So did the person next to him and his lanterns. And another. Then the next until most of the big lanterns on the curve fell down. It was like a blazing giant domino game. And I loved it! (How cruel, but I wasn't alone.) But that didn't mean the end of the show - they lighted the candles again and continued with all their might, but because they already had participated for 4 days, they seemed exhausted and the lanterns fell after that incident too. But they just kept on going.

Finishing whistle and everybody clapped and cheered. Finishing speeches from the mayor and another round of clapping. It was Fureai Kanto time - a chance to try to hold a kanto yourself, play the taiko and take photos of it all. Because it just might have been my once in a lifetime chance, I also grabbed hold of one of the pillars. It was the middle sized one, but still really heavy. If not mistaken, the middle one is about 30 kilograms. The biggest is about 5o and when decorations are added, it will be even more. I tried to hold it above, but of course I only succeeded in touching it correctly. Balance was a completely round zero.

God it felt great! Everything!

And adding to Kanto (or the time before it), I just spent the most magnificent day during my home stay so far. Because one of my sisters came back from Osaka for a home visit, we decided to go out to Nikaho city, me, host mum and the two sisters, to the more southern part of Akita prefecture past Honjo. We had a reservation in a place called Garden Cafe Time - a huge beautiful garden cafe where on a garden house veranda you can enjoy the healthiest homemade dishes in the world. Or so I believe. The place is just swallowed in a cloud of herbal aromas - mint, thyme, parsley, lavender, rosemary, all sorts of different flowers - everything was there. (The site is only in Japanese and there are no photos doing the place justice so I'll upload some pictures tomorrow. :)

Later we also went to a local small onsen, which had really rich baths. By rich I mean mineral wise. After that we went to THE BEACH.

YAHOOO! My kingdom! It was really awesome and fun and long waited, plus the water was so bright blue that it felt like burning in my eyes.

I just wish I had eyes coloured like so.

Lastly we yet again went to an onsen but a different one called Nemuno oka (ねむの丘) located at a road station. The building itself looked high class and when you entered the main doors there was a clear sign saying 'Baths on the 4th floor with a beautiful view of the sea.'

No kidding.

We just happened to arrive there during sunset.

Did I mention the water? Yeah, it was really rich. And it felt like burning my skin this time around. That might have been because of my sudden light sunburn. The sun in Japan is unbelievably strong - I don't go 'fried chicken' so easily...

Whilst driving back I sent my mate the Sun to the back of the horizon, spending some magical minutes constantly looking at the slow sinking of the orange melted sky and canary coloured clouds floating in a lavender purple sea. I almost felt like crying because of the sheer sight of all the beauty at that moment.

Only thing left to do now is to paint it by heart so that I could have a piece of the magic with me always.

Still being the luckiest bugger in the world. :)

Ta-ta and Hail hoy!

Hippari to sappari to to

Hipa! I hope everybody's doing well.

Have you ate pancakes recently?

I know I have.

As usual - kendo is still on going! Giving my best and stomping and screaming as much as I can. I think I've made some progress, but that's only logical I guess. I've also tried some kendo free fighting and I am a weasel. Slow, but still a weasel. Interpret it as you wish. Just give it a bit negative feeling.

On the other hand, the teacher told me that I might be able to enter a tournament for newcomers around the end of this year.

I AM SHOCKED.

But nonetheless overly happy! It's still a 'maybe' situation, but I'm doing my best to be ready when it should happen.

On a different note, on the 18th I went to eat kakikoori (shaved ice with syrup) with the 'Kendo Girls' (naming sense!). It's been quite some time since I last went out to do something relaxing after school and it really was fun! The place we went to was a through and through kakikoori restaurant (!) called Chawa, serving only ice and sugary liquids! I'm completely honest when saying that it serves the best shaved ice in Akita. I ordered one with a really fresh grapefruit jam on top and it was soooo good! :3 I also got to taste kiwi and mango from my friends too. Yummy yum yum omnomnom.

Also on that day I went to see Arrietty with my host mum and sister (just a day after the release! Yau!) which also was my first time going to a Japanese cinema. I must say that it is COMPLETELY different from the Estonian one. For instance we have no goods' shops there, which is somewhat a pity... but I got an Arrietty memo book and just for laughs I also bought a classic swirl lollipop. The big one. I still have most of it left. Ah, it's so nostalgic. I think I was 5 when I last ate one. :D Plus, there's no applauding in the hall after the end. Whu~?

(A heads up for those who don't know, Arrietty is the latest Ghibli Studio production. Be sure to go and see it. :)

Next time (if it actually comes) I want to see Toy Story too, one of my all time Disney favourites.

On Monday I had my YFU summer orientation (yippii!) in Hachimori Bunakkoland (almost the most upper part of Akita pref) which is famous for it's beech forests and seashore. It was a cloudy day, which was actually a blessing. Great for driving and for my poor, poor eyes, oh my.

I was happy to see my friends still alive and I was quite surprised to see so many short stay (American) students in Akita. I thought it was a quiet place concerning the matter of exchange study, but I guess I was wrong (which was good). After the introductions we went to trek the forest of Mononoke. Yep, it really looked exactly like the scenes from the movie, which is no wonder, because the backgrounds actually were inspired by the forests there. Unfathomable that I was lucky enough to go there. My heart almost stopped when I saw the first rapids of the river flowing under the tree branches, hitting the rocks by the riverside with high splashes and the sprinkles unexpectedly softly landing on my face. I almost could feel myself sinking into the forest.

After the breath taking experience, we had a huge barbeque, but it was quite tricky to eat without burning your fingers off. The grill was so damn glowing hot! But we all survived with minor casualties. Later with our tummies full, we all got to chat to our hearts content and relax. I also taught some Estonian to the exchange student going to Estonia in the beginning of next month, which was a novel feeling. Me? A teach? Naah! Unfortunately though we soon had to part ways again.

From that point 'quality family time' began. We jumped through the nearby Hatahata-kan onzen which had a wonderful view to the sea whilst you were soaking in a boat shaped bath on the veranda. Afterwards we went to eat garlic ramen nearby, which as my host dad said was quite famous around those parts. He was proven to be right quite soon. Late lunch anyone?Awesome garrrlic, delicious garrrlic, I'll sing to you about garrrlic. Reminded me of my mum's cooking a lot for some odd reason.

Anyway, no problems with vampires from now on.

Heh, like I've had any.

We arrived home quite late that night after a 2-hour drive, but on that night, over a long time, I slept soundly like I used to in my early ages. Sniff. The glory of children.

In the orientation I learned that I have a chance to go to a Junior Red Cross camp for 2 days during the last weekend of July. I decided that I'll go so I'm really giddy for it. What will happen there I wonder...

So for closure, I had a lot of fun time during the weekend past, but the best part was unquestionably the time when I felt like I actually got into the magnificent forest of Gods and Spirits of Ghibli Wonderland.

I'm planning to go there again sometime.

In person, in my dreams, by any means.

And speaking of Ghibli, Totoro is on so I'm flying.

(Sorry for the abruptness!)

Until next time and bye-bye! And thanks!

Sails hoy!

PS Photos will come later this week. Promise. Although there isn't much.

Flicker through

Hello one and all!

Sorry for my long absence, but I have a good reason for that which I'm going to explain right now.

Firstly I got to go to a concert on 26 June. And not just any concert, but Ikimono gakari's. Have you heard about them? If not then you should.

Anyway, it was an overly energizing experience with a lot of dancing and finger swirling involved (or towel swinging when bought) :) . Even the elderly and parents carrying their small children were dancing away light-footedly.

The band itself was so unbelievably sweet and lovely and they gave off an aura of immeasurable friendliness. When they made a break during the concert and talked with the audience (for over half an hour!) it really felt like as they were your closest friends that you haven't seen for a long time. They (we?) talked about Akita's specialties, what they did the day before the performance, how they got lost, how they were noticed by grannies with grandchildren and dogs, how they got scolded at the market when they tried to explain that they were Ikimono gakari and so on. They're really funny, I must admit.

So how did I get to their live in the first place? Truth be told, I actually first heard about the band during my first week in Akita (why not before, I don't know) from my host sister who is a really big fan of them. I grew to like the band too and some days later we got some mail.

Usual isn't it? Mail.

But then it turned out that inside the envelope were my mum's pre-ordered tickets for the concert.

I flipped. 'I'm serioulsy one hell of a lucky b******' I thought.

The concert lasted for a whole 3 hours (it was planned to be 1 and a half), 19 songs were sang (including encore) and they said that it was their first time performing in Akita and that they felt really nervous... Didn't seemed like that at all. They were fantastic!

And to everyone's happiness, they promised to come back once more... because babahera was really delicious.

Ahh! They really stole a piece of my heart (and money, due to my towel purchase) :)

And continuing with music, over the past month, I've been practising for our school choir contest, which culminated on 29 June.

For that cause, I went to school everyday about 30 minutes earlier than usual and sang 'Tashika na koto' by Oda Kazumasa (a really beautiful song) with my classmates, who like me couldn't really manage to squirt out a decent voice due to the early hours. I must admit it was painful :/ But we kept on going.

And going... Going... Did it again during lunch break... And after school. Everyday.

Our class might have been the most hard working out of all the classes.

Then the 29th came and everybody of Kita High went to Akita Hall with all of our little hearts thumping like that of a mouse's.

Final practices in front of the building, final check on our formation, 3 times 'Ganbare!' and squealing jumps and inside we went.

The contest itself was divided by grade - 1st years, 2nd years and 3rd years respectively and also there were prizes for the best pianist and conductor.

Anyway, our class was the last one to perform out of the 2nd years, after which were the 3rd years and our schools choir's performance and lastly the evaluation...

Our hearts were thumping even faster than before.

1st years - can't hear because of my heart racing. And finally 2nd years - third place, second and first...

WE GOT THE FIRST PLACE, PEOPLE!!! Wooooohooooo!!!

We all jumped out of our seats with joy, yelled our lungs out and some of the girls even started crying. Our hard work was paid even more than we hoped for.

And guess what. We got candy! Yeah, we're still children you know. :')

I still can't believe it that I was a part of the winning choir. Me, a girl who was repeatedly said to never be any good at singing or music of any kind. I'm quite proud of myself and really proud of my awesome class overall. I'm so happy that I was lucky enough to land in Akita out of all places. Truly a picture image of Japanese life.

(Because I'm so jumpy and happy, I'll throw in some lucky stars for all of you after this entry ;) )

But that is definitely not all of what has kept me busy.

After the contest the whole school started preparing for...

Pamparapapapapaa~~ (drumroll)

Akita Kita High School's Summer Culture Festival!!!

YESS! I finally got to participate in one! It was held on 2~3 July (Fri/Sat) and there were many awesome games, exhibitions, performances and of course the classic Obake yashiki (Monster rooms). I tried everything out and went to all the show rooms and enjoyed every bit of it. In addition, in the inner school yard were many food stands selling ice cream, various drinks, including floats (a drink with a floating ice cream scoop on top, hence the name), takoyaki (fried octopus in a pasty), churritos, taiyaki (sweet fish shaped cake with filling) and so on. I was completely blown away by the magnitude of the whole thing. It was so awesome! We had tons of guests to who also seemed mesmerized by the scene.

I can't (yet again) express my feeling through this pixelized system. A once in a lifetime chance and I got to experience it full on. Can't believe it...

But about our class, we prepared a human stamp rally game, which the goal was to find at least 5 cosplayers (me and my classmates) around the school grounds and inside the buildings and sweetly ask us a stamp. If not, we would run away. Man, it was fun!

But it wasn't all game and running, but also some bureaucracy was involved.

Our class was divided into 3 groups who all did differently themed cosplays (explained in a previous entry) and also different jobs depending on the time. Ones were handing out stamp papers (serious business), others were the prize givers (even more serious, because we were counting the amount of candy we handed out) and lastly the cosplayers. We were really popular actually, especially with small children. :) Of course I was the Mad Hatter, as promised, and I might say that I was especially popular with EVERYBODY. I can't really count up the times when people asked for a photograph with me, or even an autograph (whoa!). I gave quite a fright to some small kids however, who literally fell over when they saw me and ran away as fast as they could (Might be the fact that I'm a foreigner :/ who knows).

There was also a public cafeteria opened on the second floor which served really delicious dishes made by the school student's. For example, I ate miso ramen and curry bread on the first day and cooled udon on the second. Well... that's not all that I ate in total, but let's leave it at that or I'll get embarrassed, hohoho.

(I also put up quite a few photos of these events which have been collecting dust in my camera, so please go and see them in FB if interested. :)

Lastly, about my everyday life a tad.

Well, I've been going to kendo for about a month already (celebration!) and I'm progressing slowly but steadily and crashing into bed out of tiredness as soon as I get home every day. I've been on a Kumon break because of my lack of time but I'll start again tomorrow.

By the way, this Monday I have no school! Yeehaa! And Tuesday will only be the festival clean up.

Soon, my 4th month of home stay will also pass. The time is a magnificently fast little bugger.

Also, quite soon, I'll be on my summer holidays in Yamagata again (starting from the 22nd) for Obon (お盆) and I'll also get to see Kanto (竿燈祭り), quite a famous festival of Akita in August.

Oh, the anxiousness... there's so much to look forward to every day, starting from school and ending with all the traditional festivals of the Land of the Rising Sun.

As always, thanks for taking time to read my blog and commenting. Hugs to ye me hearties!

Good luck and good ----- (insert the proper word according to your situation)

I'll hoist sails for this time.

Guess what I will be when I grow up

Extravaganza! Outdoor vacuuming bonanza!

Anyway that was what I saw today when I was going home from school after doing my presentation on potatoes and flowers etc. In other words, my home country's characteristics, facts and all the other goods. It went really well - I got a few laughs and I didn't get a stage fright fever either. Although I would really have liked to receive some questions afterwards, all the firstlings (that was my audience - high school first years) shied away from the opportunity.

Since my last recording here, my life at school has went smoothly, happily and I feel really at ease. I actually managed to solve some exercises in maths too. I literally jumped of joy when I did it. Hey, I understood the question in mathematical Japan(a)nese. Plus, I've finished the basic level Kumon and soon am going to start the intermediate one. 必勝

Also, my class at school has begun preparing for the school festival in July. We are going to do a stamp rally, where some of us are cosplaying characters that our 3 groups A, B and C decided ((Pokemon), One Piece and Alice respectively) and are the ones to give stamps to the players and others are managing the contestants papers and other necessities for the game. Our endeavour's title and slogan are Come on and catch me! It's not so easy as you think! Our roles are going to change during those 2 days many times so everybody will do everything in the end. Anyhow, I belong to the Alice group and I'm going to cosplay...

THE MAD HATTER

Yes, I'm going to do the costume myself. :) I'm really psyched about it. I only have about 1 and a half month left so I'm going to think of the cleverest way to do it. The opening bang will be tomorrow. Going to search for a pink shirt. (God is in the details as they say.)

---

I went to Akita Onsen today. The baths there are so great and there's one outside too, inside a Japanese garden. There was also a sauna and to be frank, it was impressive. The decor was usual, but a television set there was rather amusing. They really think of everything here. :) But what I really liked was the smell of wood in there. You could also smell it in the garden. It really cleanses you inside out.

Also, inside the onsen complex was a restaurant which serves the best curry udon so far! It was called ishiyaki curry udon which was served inside a thick rock bowl and the soup was still bubbling. It was a great experience! Hot as hell, but great in taste.

Okaasan ordered a fish dish called buri ishiyaki, which turned out to be a grilled gigantic fish head. It too was delicious, but we all had quite a scare when we first saw it. (Put some lemon juice on it and it will all go well.) Anyhow, the place really went into my heart so I wanted to share my thoughts a bit.

Until next time! 3-9!

Log out static

Yamagata Banzai Dango *update

GOLDEN WEEK (so far) HAS BEEN AWESOMELY MAGNIFICENT!

I'm back from Yamagata and feeling absolutely tired. But it was so great! I have so much great memories that I think I'll forget to tell all of them. Do I make sense?

(Looking at the photos will give you a better picture (literally) about my trip. This will be a short summary about my feelings and thoughts.)

Overall, the ride from Akita city to Yamagata city, where my (host) aunt lives, is about 4 hours, but we made many pit stops along the way. Firstly, we went to visit otoosan's mum in Akita's southern part. Really an epic grandma I must say. She served us really great sweets and gave us an awesome bentou for the ride. She makes the best imoten in the world! (Sweet potato bread-fry)

Afterwards we visited a sakura park and many road stations (sort of souvenir shopping malls along main highway's) and went to an amusement park of pet animals. It was sort of a children's zoo with a lot of cute little animals. We also went to see a river nearby and ate lunch there.

(now my mind is blank)

And so we went to the aunt's place where we had a huge and delicious dinner. It's just unbelievable how much effort they (the Japanese) put to everything! It really is a huge cultural leap for me. WHO~~OU!

Later that evening we went to see the cherries at night. It was really magical - there was a bit of lighting around the trees and little sparkly bugs were hovering between the branches making it all look like fairy dust. After that - sleep.

The next day we went to a lot of places, but the main two were a central hill in Yamagata city with a lot of magnificent cherry trees and later Yamadera mountain temple. Both were breathtakingly beautiful with cherry blossom rain. Yup, it's that time of the year in the far north Honshuu. We spent the later afternoon completely in Yamadera, climbing the hills, seeing the temples and shrines and later we ate kakikoori (shaved ice with syrup) and rested a bit. That evening's dinner wa syet again (go figure) HUGE.

The final day was sakura day. We went to see the 1,200-year-old cherry tree in Kubo-cho and the surroundings. The tree was just gigantic! It was supported by numerous pillars and looked like a well cared for senior grandma/pa.

Later on, it was goodbye to the aunts, uncles, nieces and grandparents and off we went to finally get our hanami dango. It is a small but famous shop in Ooishida city, where average waiting time is a little under an hour (if you're lucky to arrive there before it's all sold out). Because of that we thought to go to eat something because it had been a while. During the ride, I noticed a great spot under the cherry trees by a riverside and at that moment we all decided that this will be the spot for our hanami.

And that's that.

*5th May, Kodomo no hi (Children's Day), I went to a local freemarket about 30 minutes ride away from home. It was in a dahlia park in which were a lot of cherry trees too and that was the place where we ate yet again a hanami lunch. The air was unbelievably thick with the smell of blossoms which were hanging from the branches over our heads. The petals were dancing in the wind and occasionally dropped on our onigiri (riceballs), which was just like in the movies I've seen too much before coming to Japan. Haaa~~~ah!

Later, we went to Akita Central PArk, which is a huge place with thick forests covering many mountains and also your usual park that runs through a university campus. That place was filled to the brim with sakura trees and there we rent bikes for a ride in the surroundings. Fubuki (petal rain) was really magical and the forests looked a lot like my homeland's. It felt really heartwarming and soul freeing. The ride lasted for an hour, but it felt like ages. A trip of a lifetime.

The whole day, I felt really moved by the views of Akita. I'm just unbelievably glad that I happened to be sent here into the countryside of Japan, because that's where I think you can really feel the heart of a nation. The root of it, stripped from bureaucracy etc. NATURE.

And that's that.

Now I'm home, have finished half of my F level Kumon and really put a lot of effort in creating this entry and putting up all those photos on FB. I hope it gives you a bit of joy to see some pink in your everyday computer surfing.

Nice of you to have dropped by!

BB and good night!

Galloping through

A bit of information on my behalf:

currently I have about 5 days till school (starts on 5th April), I'll get my uniform a day before and at first I'm going to attend all classes, but after a while, I can choose, which ones will stay. So with clubs too - I can try what I wish and then choose one. I think that's really kind of the school staff to let me do so, don't you think?

But one thing is absolutely certain - I'm in the humanitarian team. But they're yet to have picked me a certain class form the bunch. I'll just wait and see.

Anyways, on to me diary!

27.03.

Let's call it the Great Spring Cleaning Day. We spent the whole day cleaning the temporary lodgings of otoosan. Me, Ayumi and okaasan. We cleaned the tatami, the fusuma, the windows, anything you can possibly think of. Yet again, very Japanese.

During a break we ate meron-pan, some snacks and mochi and drank tea. We drink it a lot here. I hope my teeth won't be black in the end...

After the whole ordeal, which actually was really fun, we went to a gyoza place run by a Chinese married couple. They were so kind and lively! Both were really happy looking people and a lot more talkative than Japanese, which is really unbelievable. The wife asked me tons of questions the whole time we ate, and she was actually the first person in Japan this time around who thought I was 「かわいい」(kawaii). I felt really out of place at first, because I had forgot the feeling when someone says that. Shiver me timbers! (Last year, I heard the word about 200+ times a day, 7 days straight.)

29.03.

Went to the Oomoriyama Zoo today and I saw the giraffe (キリン) with my own eyes for the first time in my life! It felt numbingly awesome! I had only eyes for them and one of them had only eyes for me. Just magical. Mogic! Also, I was given a year-long pass for the zoo by okaasan. It has a tiger on it! How cool is that?

Also today, I tried Japanese yoghurt for the very first time. It was delicious! You all should try it when you happen to be in Japan. おススメでしょう 。

*Just an ending note.

When school starts, my posting rate might run a bit low, but anyway, keep on checking back!