Hassaku Matsuri

So on Saturday, 9/1/07, Tsuru-shi had a big matsuri (festival), and we were all invited to participate. We had to practice all last week each night just walking around in a circle, so that kinda sucked. Though, the actual matsuri was a lot of fun. First we got changed, got make-up put on, then walked around the city for 2 hours, with a half-hour break halfway. I don't have any pictures of my own since I didn't bother to bring my camera (I figured I'd be in the parade, so how would I take pictures?), but some of the tutors and the other ryuugakusei have pictures up, so I'll show the ones that are currently available, and I'll try to update when more come around.

The room where all the guys got changed.

Make-up time. I thought I looked all cool and serious here...at first I was like "Woah, who's that good looking slick guy? Oh. That's me!"

Then I saw this picture and thought "Woah, who's that dorky looking guy? Oh. That's me."

This guy is called a "yako-san", but we prefer to call him the Japanese Pringle guy.

My friend John in his Samurai garb and with a kick-ass pose (that's GOT to be his new Facebook avatar). 6 other ryuugakusei were samurai; I was the only yako-san due to a) they needed someone strong to carry an 11ft pole, and b) they didn't have any large enough samurai outfits.

However, I soon realized that being yako-san was a lot more fun than being a stupid low-ranking samurai. I was the only type of yako-san in my group. Also, I got to hang out with all the other fun yako-san guys. Hanging out with the Japanese men reminded me of when I spent time in Rosarito; they tend to be really loud, lewd, and like to party.

All the ryuugakusei (-1, who played taiko instead) dressed in our outfits.

Being a yako-san gave me permission to be silly (warning: video coming up hopefully soon). The samurai and chamber maids just had to walk really slow and keep a stern face, where as I got to joke around, smile, and have fun.

John, again, in his crazy sword poses. This one imitates a character from the anime One Piece. While not particularly popular in America (both he and I agree that it doesn't seem very good, poor animation, it's probably like another Dragonball but more boring and worse), it's immensely popular here in Japan. Whenever we ask people if they watch anime they always respond "Do you know One Piece?" Bah.

During half-time I did a Rubic's Cube and impressed all the on-lookers. We also played around with the kids for a bit. Japanese parents are much more lenient about what they let their kids do. Here they didn't care if the kids had sharp swords and were swinging and poking each other with them. Reminded me of when I was climbing Fuji-san and I saw a couple take their young son and daughter up the mountain and its steep, wet rocks. My kids would have to be AT LEAST in their 20's before I let them climb ^_<

Unfortunately, after holding that huge pole for 2 hours, the left-hand side of my right forearm has gone completely numb, and has still remained that way for all of today. I'm hoping that it'll get better as the week progresses.