Embarrassing Moment #6
You'll have to wait and see.
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Got a lot of ground to cover here, so bear with me.
Okay, so Thursday was a big day. Still heavily in a slump over the return of Friday's grammar test (do NOT ask), I needed something to pick me up. And the city of Kyoto was happy to oblige, with not one but two festivals in the same day.
First up was Jidai Matsuri (literally, Era Festival), a celebration of Japan's vibrant history in the form of a procession through the city of people in period costumes. The event started at the Imperial Palace at 12, and carried on until about 3 or 4 when the procession entered the Heian Temple on the other side of the river.
So, right after class, I searched in vain for the others before setting off by bike to meet with the front of the procession at Kyoto City Hall. A lot of this will be in video format today, and here is your first. As with, I think, all of the videos, I've tried to give a running commentary, but the camera hasn't really picked up my voice very well. Sorry.
Gets cut off right as I insult the No Show Trio, ironically because I get a phone call from Mark. At this point I am told that they were waiting for me (yeah, sure, bet they brought their unicorns and flying pigs with them too) and had since left for the Imperial Palace, where they were watching the later history bits of the procession. With plans to meet at Himatsuri that afternoon, the parade continued.
As it turns out the time periods are a lot longer than I thought, so Heian continues for the duration of all of these videos. There are photos on Facebook of... the next time period, which has a very different style to it.
Yeah, don't really know what that was...
Then something interesting happens, and I JUST miss catching it on camera.
And that's it. There were more time periods to see, I'm sure, but I had homework to do, and I needed to prepare for the second festival of the day:
Himatsuri. Literally translated as 'fire festival', this yearly festival takes place on Kurama, a mountain in the far north of Kyoto. I met up with Cosmopolitan at Imadegawa and we all got the too-small train to the too-far-away mountain, by which time night had fallen.
There, if you were able to spot it, was our first fire of the night. By the end, I was glad to be rid of the stuff. We gathered together briefly to think about what we would have to do to get to the main event stuff. The answer was walk uphill through the town of Kurama, practically ablaze, for 30 minutes, amidst what call only be described as a throng. Here's the next part.
As Sam pointed out, there were babies holding fire. We would see lots that night. We would also see lots of tourists and hear lots of megaphones. Still don't know exactly what the people were shouting, and would be shouting all the way up the mountain, but I'm sure it was something about power or heat or something. Anyway, next part:
You can't really tell all that well, but that black stuff you see? Those are people. They were everywhere, it was as much a test of agility as a festival.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was Embarrassing Moment #6: me falling into a 'hora', a watery moat thing on the side of the road. It's dark, so you can't see it, and neither could I, but it was there. I guess that was my punishment for making a Dark Heresy joke. I liked that the crowd was pantomime-trained enough to gasp dramatically on cue, and also well-mannered enough to laugh at my accented Japanese.
Oh, and by this point Sam and I were well and truly seperated from the rest of the group. It would turn out that pretty much everyone was in the same predicament, and when we got to the top the others arrived in small clusters. Still, we did manage to meet up with Takuya and co. on the way up.
And that's festival 2. Up at the top, incidentally, were tents which sold beer, takoyaki (fried balls of octopus, really rather nice) and nekoshippo (literally 'cat tails') sweet pastry in the shape of, would you believe it, the tail of a cat.
Then we went home. That took about 2 hours. Incidentally, I hear Mark, Stephanie, Angela, Mimi and someone else made it too, but didn't get as far as us. Their loss, I guess, though it did mean I missed out on seeing a friend from church.
Okay, what next...
Ah right, today.
Oh no wait! In my rush I forgot to talk about Wednesday's meal! As nobody felt like cooking Wednesday evening, Mark, Angela, Stephanie and I all went out to Shijo to get dinner at a proper place. In the end we went to a French restaurant that Mark and co. recommended.
And they did fish and chips!!
And they were actually good fish and chips!!
Best meal I've had in ages.
Anyway, today.
Today was Friday, obviously, and with it came the weekend. And a very much awaited weekend it is too. Truly very happy to have the week finished. But there's something else I really want to talk about.
I got my JASSO money today!
Mark and Stephanie went to the office to ask for it directly, and were surprised to find it was there waiting for them. They phoned me, and I went to get mine, impatiant at the lack of phone call that should have told me where it was. After asking behind the desk, they said that yes it was right here, and were more than happy to hand it over.
Two hundred
and forty
thousand
yen.
That's over £1,200.
All in one go.
My wallet was near breaking point.
And they expected us to spend it wisely?!
Hah!
Finally got a chance to see the legendary Bic Camera, which is every bit as impressive as I was told, and celebrated our new found money with 750 yen of Hi-Zack Mobile Suit kit (that's £4, not bad eh?). Then it was off to the station underground for dinner, where we had big bowls of noodles followed by pitchers, yes pitchers, of parfait.
And now here I am. Zack is finished and standing beside the Gespenst, I'm typing this, and tomorrow is a free day. Unless Ben remembers we were going to Kinkakuji, which I doubt, as we've not discussed it in a couple of weeks.
Then it really is church softball the next day.
And that's me.
And now it's time for Letter Corner!
Today's letter comes direct from Mark: 'So when are you thinking of getting you Japanese PS2, eh?"
A very good question, and one that you may have answered yourself. Up until now-ish I'd thought that it would be great to get a Japanese PS2 in Tokyo, the heartland of technology. But thinking about it now I'm not sure it'd be all that feasible. I mean, I'd have to carry it with me on the Shinkansen, not to mention the subway on the way TO the Shinkansen, with all the kit and everything. Doesn't sound safe, or fun.
But on Wednesday Patricia gave us leaflets about all kinds of Kyoto stuff, and one was a flier for a Duty Free Technology shop, allegedly on the south side of Teramachi. Worth a look, methinks.
Now here's problem two: if I get a Japanese PS2 now, I will undoubtedly fail my next test. And I don't want that. But Mark has pointed out that November holds the Doshisha Holiday, which gives us Wednesday to Sunday off at... some point. And that would be perfect. Sounds pretty good, eh? That's when he might be getting the PS3 too, which means we'd have a funky gaming holiday planned. I like the sound of that.
Right, it's 1 o'clock and I'm shattered.
Thanks very much for reading.
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