Oiden Matsuri

Heeeeey, everyone.  I'm still alive.  I'm just busy with Life, and I'll be leaving town tomorrow, which will mean that I will get busier.  I don't actually have much left to talk about, in terms of stuff I did in Japan, so the next couple of posts will probably be mostly pictures.

こんにちは、皆さん。最近結構忙しかったので、このブログをあまり書かない。ごめんね。日本について話したいことはまだ残っているけど、忙しいからたぶんゆっくり書いて、記事はほんとんど写真である可能性が高い。

On the 29th I went to Oiden Matsuri in Toyota City, also known as the third biggest fireworks festival in Japan.  Joy (one of my classmates from Japanese who also lives in the dorm) and I were invited by Kocchan, who lives in Toyota.  Joy also brought her friend Akina.

７月２９日に日本国内で三番目大きい花火祭りのおいでん祭りを見に行った。豊田市に住んでいるこっちゃんに誘われて、クラスメートのジョイとジョイの友達のアキナ君と一緒に行った。

Kocchan invited us over to her house beforehand so Joy and I could get dressed up in yukata.*  (I brought my own yukata, but Joy borrowed on from Kocchan.)  None of us can actually dress ourselves,** so Kocchan's mom helped. (Thank you!)

祭りの前にこっちゃんの家に行って、こっちゃんのお母さんが浴衣を着せてくれた。（ありがとう！）私は自分の浴衣を持ってきたけど、ジョイはこっちゃんから浴衣を借りた。

(Picture totally stolen from Kocchan.)

Look at me, looking like a dork.  Yukata aren't made for people with hips.

似合わないでしょう。>.>

Aaaand then we went to the festival!  Where we met up with two of Kocchan's other friends.

そして、祭りに行って、こっちゃんの友達たちと会った。

It was pretty crowded.

結構込んでいた。

(Look at these super attractive people.)

(アキナ君とこっちゃんとジョイ）

(...I just realized that some of these captions will be hilarious if you are bilingual.  Oh dear.)

So getting a place for the fireworks is Serious Business, which means you have to mark out your territory DAYS in advance with tarps and tape.

Also, we were on a hill.  It made sitting interesting.

 (Picture totally stolen from Kocchan again.)

Yes, those are zebras.  No, they aren't real.

Walking up a hill in a yukata is REALLY HARD.

浴衣を着ながら、坂を登るのは大変だよ。

It started getting more crowded the darker it got...

Awkward pictures~

(The two girls behind me are Kocchan's friends.)

(私とこっちゃんの友達たち）

And then...fireworks!

そして、花火！

Japanese firework shows are pretty different from what we're used to in the States.  For one thing, the whole show was almost two hours long.  Also, the show was split into different acts, each one lasting no more than about 5 minutes.  Some of the shows were designed by students at an art school, so they would consist of a single firework that fit a certain theme.  For example, one of them was called "sunflower" and LOOKED LIKE A SUNFLOWER.  It had little green offshoots (for the leaves) and then a big yellow burst at the top.  So cool.  I would say about 1/4 of the acts were set to music (and I mean REALLY set to music; so the fireworks would mirror the song lyrics), and those were definitely the coolest.

日本の花火とアメリカの花火は結構違う。例えば、アメリカでは花火はたぶん２０～３０分かかる。おいでん祭りのように２時間かかるのはありえない。それと、日本では花火は５分あって、ちょっとだけ止まって、もう一度始まるでしょう。アメリカでは全然違う。ショーが始まって、花火が２０～３０分あって、完全に終わる。それと、アメリカの花火ショーでは音楽があるけど、音楽のタイミングや歌詞は花火の形やタイミングと関係がない場合は多い。

These letters are part of a wooden structure they set on fire during the course of the festival.

...and then my camera died.  It was pretty unimpressive.

そして、カメラの電池が消えてしまった。;_;

Anyway, it was pretty awesome!  Afterwards Joy and I headed back to Kocchan's place, where we chilled for a little bit so the crowds could dissipate.  We apparently didn't wait long enough, 'cause when Kocchan tried to drive us to the station, we got stuck in traffic.  The cars weren't even moving.  At all. It was the weirdest thing.  So Joy and I hopped out of the car and walked the rest of the way to the station and took the train back home.  Which was, uh, more exciting than entirely necessary, 'cause it was a really crowded train, and Joy and I got separated getting on and I couldn't get back over to her, and there was this drunk guy who was harassing this girl by trying to pull the straps of her tank tops off her shoulders with his fan, and she was laughing awkwardly and saying, "Stop!  Stop!" and HE WASN'T STOPPING.  GAAAAH.  Also, he kept ogling me and trying to fan me and I was edging away as far as possible, and there was this other dude who was intentionally leaning on me and it was really bad and I was just about ready to punch ALL THE PEOPLE.

祭りの後で、ジョイとこっちゃんと一緒にこっちゃんの家まで歩いた。込んでいないまで待とうと思ったけど、こっちゃんが車で駅まで連れて行こうとしてから、すぐ渋滞に入ってしまった。誰も動けないほどひどい渋滞だったから、ジョイと一緒に駅まで歩くことになった。満員電車だけではなく、酔っ払っている男性は女性をいじめて、私に変に見たので、怖かった。それと、他の男性はわざわざ私を触ろうとした。セクハラかな。。。:(

But, aside from the super awkward train ride, the festival was awesome, and I loved the fireworks, and it was awesome to get to hang out with Kocchan one last time before I left.

が、祭りはすばらしくて、花火が美しくて、こっちゃんと帰る前にもう一度遊ぶのがよくて、うれしかった。

Next post will be a bunch of miscellaneous pictures from Kawahara Shrine and various stuff involving the Kawahara folks I've forgotten to talk about.

次回：川原神社との別れ

*Yukata are the summer version of kimono.  I like them much better.
...what is up with this font?

**This may sound really, really pathetic, but that means you have never worn a yukata before.  Putting on a yukata is HARD.