Shinzaike Honcho Festival, Friendship Festival, and the Countryside!

Lots of photos and a few videos incoming!

The Shinzaike Honcho Festival was the local neighborhood festival. The shrine was just down the street from Shirasagi, and all of us ALT's walked to it. It was a lot of fun! Three other neighborhoods were also having their festivals at the same time, which meant that we ran into their portable shrines along the way now and then. Everything culminated at the park on top of the hill next to Shirasagi, with performances by the kids and some portable shrine "dancing."

The portable shrine was alternately carried and pushed/pulled along the route we took, which circled through most of the area around the Shinzaike Honcho main street. We marched in lines behind the portable shrine, chanting "Yo Ya Sa" along the way (the equivalent of "heave ho!").

 The entrance to the shrine. 

(^ Some detailed photos of the portable shrine. ^)

(A lion dance performance at the start of the festival.)

(The first time the shrine is carried. They would jostle it many times along the way!)

 (This little dog was the star of the festival. His little coat looks like the ones we were all wearing!)

 (A shot of three of the shrines from the four neighborhoods.)

(The kids wore some cute costumes for their performances!)

Himeji Friendship Festival

This festival celebrates the city of Himeji's relationship with other countries, like Peru, the USA, and Australia. I'd guess that approximately 20 different cultures were represented at this festival. We were right across the street from Himeji Castle, so quite a few tourists stopped by for an unexpected treat along the way.

There was food for each country represented here. I finally had some tacos for the first time since I've been in Japan! And some fantastic curry... and lots of tasty food, really.

I didn't get a chance to photograph too much, since I was volunteering at the Language Booth, where you could pay to speak with a "tutor" for 10 minutes in English, Korean, or Chinese. It was a very interesting experience, because every student I had was at very different levels of English. One of my elementary school students was waiting for me when my shift began, having found out I would be there; since I'd just had her class on the Thursday a few days before, I did a 10-minute review of what we had worked on in class. I also had a "lesson" with an Australian university student, who had inadvertently been made to sign up for English lessons, much to her friends' amusement.

 (A shot of the big dining area in front of the stage.)

 (Two mascots from the festival. The white puff ball is the mascot for the city of Himeji, and you'll see her logo on any important city documents. No idea who the samurai is supposed to represent, though.)

 (Some students performing a Vietnamese Lion Dance.)

(A shot of a park next to the festival, the leaves are starting to turn colors!)

The Countryside

I went out and visited one of my elementary schools, Yamada, for the first time. It involved a bus ride that was over an hour long! The streets would get so narrow sometimes, that any cars coming in the opposite direction would have to stop and pull way over to allow the bus to go through. There were some very close shaves! 

It seemed like a good opportunity to show some photos of what a Japanese "countryside" can look like! The beauty of this area was really incredible! 

(The view from the Teacher's Room in the school.)

(A shot of the back of the school and the playground. This was the one main building, as well as a small gym behind it.) 

(A small farm growing next to the bus stop.)

Miscellaneous

Just thought I'd throw in a few photos from a restaurant I went to for the Music Festival Enkai. (I'll post more about Hirohata's Music Festival another time!) We had Pufferfish Nabe, or hotpot. A giant pot was set on the center of a table, where the water would then boil, and you could add ingredients to it as you wanted to. Pufferfish is extremely toxic, and only certified chefs are allowed to prepare it. (Read more about fugu here!) 

There was a giant tank of the pufferfish outside of the restaurant, which is on the main street downtown, near the JR Station. 

I learned how the best way to tell your fugu is fresh:

That piece of meat was described as being "pikupiku," and it kept twitching for a good five minutes. Eventually, it was added to the boiling water, with a triumphant "No more pikupiku!" 

I won't lie, I mostly ate the boiled lettuce, onions, and mushrooms.