Himatsuri - The Fire Festival

So, Sunday of last week, the day after shopping around Tokyo, and the same day as the AM Pokemon movie, was the himatsuri, or fire (hi) festival (matsuri). We took a train to a town a few stations over around 6 PM, just before supper time. I forget the exact reason for the festival (I have it on a sheet somewhere around here), but it's to honor some god or something (which Japanese festivals are usually for anyways). When we got there we walked up and down the main road, which was littered with various small food-booths and prize-booths. It looked very similar to the hanabimatsuri (fireworks festival). It also was reminiscent of a Flintstones' episode, where every few feet the scenery would repeat itself. Theres about a dozen or so different booths that repeat every few hundred yards. Some of the things they sell: flavored shaved ice (I forget the name of most of the dishes, so I'll just what they are in English), different types of meat cuts, these pancake things with eggs and veggies (note that the Japanese love to put an egg on random dishes, don't ask me why), a huge hotdog-on-a-stick, various types of pancackes and crepes, noodles, and some kind of grilled fish, either squid or octopus (which is put into little pancake balls). That night I tried one of the pancake meals (omisukiyake, I think...I know it has the "su" kanji from suki). It was pretty tasty, with the exception of the fish flakes they put on top.

That's a HUGE chunk of meat. Or, as us ryuugakusei say here in Japan, "a Xander-size chunk of meat." (okay, I realized that has a double entendre...) Apparently this style of cooking is Greek...?

Stitch shop!!! So many Stitch things here, I honestly have no idea which one to choose...it's just so hard, I could blow all of my money just on Stitch-related stuff...

Men carrying the portable god-shrine, which, again, I forget the name of :( Time to make more flashcards...

It's considered an honor to be holding the shrine. You'll see a bunch of people push and shove to be able to carry it.

Here's two random guys that saw me taking pictures of the crowd, so they jumped on the opportunity to make funny faces (I know I would have :P). They invited us to go to a bar afterwards, but we eventually went clothes shopping instead. I think I saw the guy in the hat yesterday at the 9/1 festival, because he looked like him and shouted my name...:-/

On the left is our TA, Satou-san. We call her Tamago-sensei since she's a TA (tamago means egg). She's actually our age, 20ish, so sometimes she'll hangout with us.

Fire pillars like these lined the center of the street. Everyone crowded around the food booths to not get singed by the fire. In Japan, wakamono (young people) say "Atsu!", dropping the "i" (ee) at the end, when they want to say something's hot.

My current wallpaper, looks really cool with my blurry picture-taking ability.

Summon the fire! Summon the fire! Summon the fire! -Tristan

Jamming on Taiko drums. The other ryuugakusei and I got a fun beat going, until I broke off to my Mario music solo.

Towards the end of the festival the families and nenpai (polite term for older people) return home, leaving the streets to the wakamono. Since Japan is a very alcohol-oriented society, it's legal to drink and be drunk in public. That, in addition to the fire, made it seem like a mini-revolt (or like UCLA is after we beat USC in a football match).

After the festival a few of us went clothes shopping at a store close by. John bought a few new Japanese shirts, with one really cool one having a chain laced around the neck and ending in the center with a little ornament dangling in front. I was tempted to get one that had a Batarang-like dongle hanging, but unfortunately it was only an L (I wear LL, the largest size that I could find at a store without going to a specialty store). I tried it on, though, and it fit, but if I were to wash it, it'd end up on one of my stuffed animals. However, the other ryuugakusei said it really made me look different, in a good way. Apparently my clothes now make me look like a big brother, or a character from a cartoon show (both things which I'd like to look like anyways, so I guess I can't complain ^_<). However, I think it'll be fun to get some crazy Japanese clothes here (like that chain-laced shirt, or some kind of shirt with random messed up Engrish on it).

I don't care what you say, sparkles and plaid do NOT go together.

Met this kid on the train ride back home. Brianna, one of the ryuugakusei, had said that my attire reminded her of her little brother (also Jon from Garfield). We thought it was hilarious that we saw this kid, wearing the same kind of polo/t-shirt, on the train, so I took a picture with him. My inner-Asian-kid right there.