Fireworks, Obon, and Noh...ahh, Japan.

I left the last post commenting on the new year and new people, and one of the big events that generally brings everyone out of the woodwork is the huge fireworks show on the Nagara river in Gifu city. This year was just as impressive as last. The tarp was pretty much in the same place, and I swear I bought kakigori (snow cone/shaved ice) from the same dude last year. A fireworks show this awesome is a tradition I could get used. And this year I went out in a yukata, so that was good fun. I think I mentioned this last year, but it bears repeating, these fireworks absolutely blow anything I’ve seen stateside completely out of the water.

It attracts quite the crowd...



My badass red and black yukata, plus some badass new Gifu JETs!



Then that Tuesday there was the work orientation dinner. All the English teachers get together for some team teaching workshops, etc, and then go out for dinner. I signed up to join the dinner portion, but then completely forgot about it until I got a call from Erin 7 minutes before it was supposed to start…in Gifu city. So I bolted to the station on my bike, had good luck with the train times, and made it to the restaurant only around 20 minutes late. The food and drinks were only just starting to come out, so the timing worked out quite well. It was all you could eat or drink from a selected (and pretty varied) menu, and I made sure to get my money’s worth. It was a raucous time and I was glad to see all the new people from orientation again as well as the veterans.

The next weekend Naomi and I went to visit Vitor...and the beach! We grabbed the train to Toyohashi, where Vitor lives, and immediately hopped in his car to drive an hour to Tahara, where the beach is. One the way there, we stopped for lunch at a place Vitor insisted we go to for their famously massive tempura rice bowl. The picture below was the smallest size they had.




I could barely finish mine, but it was pretty amazing. They also had some delicious fried chicken wings. Everything on the menu looked scrumptious. Needless to say, I'd like to return someday. We headed onward and had an awesomely lazy afternoon on the beach. The day was cloudy, so not too warm, but that also lulled me into not applying sunscreen that often, so I ended up getting sunburned. We had fun playing in the sand and generally goofing off. This beaches also had some amazing smooth rocks, some even with flatter edges, so I grabbed a few for my berimbau.

So international it hurts!



For any guys with ideas of skinny-dipping, this sign kindly reminds you to keep thine phallus in thine drawers. (Or some enterprising English speaker scratched off part of an "o", either way, worth a laugh)





The end of a lovely day!



The following weekend Naomi needed a few “rent-a-foreigners” to help promote the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperative) meeting in Gifu in early October. This was at an Obon dance event at an elementary school in Gifu. They gave us yukata (summer cotton kimono) to wear for the evening, along with some tea and onigiri, which always helps. We had a group of 6 or so foreigners, hailing from a number of countries and at one point we got up on a little stage, gave self-introductions, and one of us spoke briefly about APEC.





That was it. After that, we just did a bunch of traditional Obon dances, and far and away my favorite song for Obon is “Harukoma” (“Spring Foal”). Below is an old video from up in Gujo-Hachiman, where they stay up all night dancing on a couple selected days. The video quality is bad, but it has the best audio I could find. I also love how you can hear the old grandmas singing "harukoma" in the chorus, it lends a certain raw authenticity and is endearing at the same time.




I pretty much just love this picture of Naomi.



They were giving out prizes for dancing, or essentially for looking like you were having a good time and getting into it. I’d figured they’d pick a token foreigner for one of the prizes, so I had a 1 in 8 shot, not bad odds. Anywho, due to my amazingly awesome dancing, I was selected. The rest of the night I got to dance around with a medal around my neck stating how much I rock.



Anywho, I had missed out going up to Gujo-Hachiman this year, so I was glad to get to do some proper Obon dancing and help out Naomi at the same time. After the event was over, a couple of us went out for a late night snack and complain about work session. I was pleased, though, as the pasta I got was really quite good, and I had a coke float with it, which is pretty hard to screw up.

The following weekend there was a torchlight Noh theatre performance outdoors on the Nagara river. I had updated the English handout for this year and translated the plot summaries of the plays and actor bios, but I doubt anyone looked at it because it was already pitch black when I got there. I had literally rushed straight from work and even then missed the opening music performances. Thankfully I got there just in time for the start of the first of two major plays. I had never seen Noh before (aside from a brief video clip back in Ancient Japanese Lit. at UW), but knew it was even harder to understand than Kabuki. The first play, though, was in the comedic style, Kyogen, and ended up being halfway intelligible at times. The following play was serious Noh, and aside from a random word or two, I couldn’t understand a thing. It was quite a cool experience, though. Robert, one of the new JETs, drove all the way down from Shirakawa village (a good 2 hours, at least) for these performances. He didn’t have a place to crash, so I offered up my place. He drove myself and Rachel back to Ogaki where we grabbed dinner at a rotating sushi place I hadn’t been to before (Robert insisted it was the best of the big chain restaurants). It was quite good, indeed, and afterwards we dropped Rachel off and then chatted and exchanged Youtube video recommendations before heading to bed.

I had to kick out Robert relatively early in the morning, though as I was heading into Nagoya on Saturday for a variety of reasons. I met up with my friend Kevin, who I studied abroad with at Nanzan University three years ago, and who is a new CIR on the JET program in Nagoya. It just so happens that he lives right by the one Pizza Hut I know in Nagoya where you can eat-in. It is attached to and shares dining space with a Mister Donut (dangerous, I know). We ostensibly met up to have donuts for “brunch” but we were there talking for quite a while and at one point we both sort of glanced over at Pizza Hut, at which point there was no resisting. So we followed up donuts with greasy cheese pizza, and it was everything I thought it would be. Kevin had to head to a barbecue event and I was to be meeting fellow Gifu-ites in Nagoya station for a little walking tour for the new folks. It was great to talk with Kevin at length again and hear how he is settling into work. I’m horrible at keeping in touch with people, and it’s always reassuring when you can pick up right where you left off with a friend. The walking tour was decent, but not too many people showed up for it. I did end up trying an “ice cream donut” though, in the underground mall/maze in Nagoya station, and it was pretty darn tasty.

After checking out the station area, we hit up Osu Kannon, which is always good for some nostalgia value and T-shirts with bad English on them. The real crowd from Gifu joined us in the evening for the beer garden, but that is exactly when I peaced out, as I had a capoeira practice with a meeting afterward that everyone was supposed to attend. The next day I chilled in Ogaki and biked down to the mall on the south end of town where they have a…SUBWAY! Sadly, the sandwich I got wasn’t all I had built it up to be. The bread was a little dry and the “cheese spread” was super fake. I’ll have to go with one of the standards next time.