Yes, I'm still here and still kicking. I decided to take advantage of the slightly cooler day (it is only 33'C in my apartment) and send an update. Oh, and I wanted to respond to my cousin's question about my last post.
When we went to the studio to dress up like a Maiko they didn't give us a history of the Geisha. This is likely for two reasons: one they don't speak English and only two of us spoke any level of Japanese, and second the service is geared toward Japanese people, who probably already know the history of the Geisha. I actually had trouble deciding on participating in the photo shoot. I was worried about cultural appropriation and I didn't like the idea of just dressing up and it not having any meaning for me. But I talked to my JT's (the Japanese teachers that I work with) and they all encouraged me to do it. Also, I did it because I thought my Grandpa would like to have a picture of me all dressed up to put next to the one of his Dad.
So this will be a quick run down of Hanami and Golden Week. With lots of pictures so I don't have to write so much. :)
HANAMI
So, Hanami is the Sakura festival time. Basically it goes like this, once the Sakura (cherry blossoms) start to bloom people gather together under the trees and drink their faces off. There usually is a lot of signing and even some dancing, but mostly it's drinking and eating. Everybody has a Hanami party: families, friends, co-workers, and if your like me you go it alone. Now, if you translate Hanami it means flower viewing. However, most people aren't so much viewing the flowers as they are revelling in an excuse to party. Unless of course you count tilting your head back to finish the last of the sake as viewing the flowers. I didn't actually go to any Hanami parties. I don't drink and I still hadn't met many Japanese people at this point. I almost missed the Sakura in general, because they are around for such a short time. This year they were late and we had really bad weather when they did show up, it was rainy and windy so they were around even shorter than usual. But I did head to Kyoto with Danielle and we caught the tail end of Sakura season. So what follows are some pics. I'm glad we caught the tail end because I wouldn't have wanted to be around when it was at it's peak. As it was, it was almost too busy for me to enjoy.
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| Entrance to the Sakura garden. This only gives you a taste of how busy it was. |
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| Close up of some Sakura. |
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| A rare moment with no people passing, just enough time for a quick photo. |
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| The blossoms on this tree have pretty much fallen. But I liked the worn out look of it. |
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| I tried to sneak this picture, because I thought it was so cute. They were all alone and eating together. But in my attempts to be sneaky I ended up with a blurry picture. |
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| He wouldn't move and I didn't want to wait, so I just incorporated him into the picture. |
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| Plum and cherry blossoms. Framing didn't quite work as well as I had wanted. |
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| This was the closest I could get to having no one in the picture. And I stood there for a good 5-10 mins. |
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| Leaving a temple, or entering depending on whose perspective you take. |
GOLDEN WEEK
So Golden Week is basically days off at the end of April and beginning of May. There are a bunch of National Holidays in there, and it usually ends May 5th which is Children's Day. But more accurately celebrated as Boy's Day. What it means for us gaijin is that it's a week off of work. And I spent that time kicking it around the Kansai area. I had a couple of days in and around Kyoto, some in Kobe, and even stayed in Osaka for a bit. I guess I will break it down by city.
Osaka
I spent Friday night in Osaka and decided to go to an area I've not been to before. Therefore, Merran and I headed to Dotonbori. It's crazy to think that I never explored this area before, because it is off of Shinsaibashi which is an area I frequently visit. Anyway, Dotonbori is best seen at night. It has all the neon lights and strange people. However, despite it being Golden Week it was strangely empty. I wonder if we just happened to catch the transitional period, you know when locals have left but visitors haven't arrived yet.
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| Dotonbori is filled with strange sculptures outside of restaurants. |
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| Showing you how to make your nigiri. |
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| Blurry picture of some strange mascot. Just down the road there was a man selling food dressed like this guy. |
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| Osaka is famous for it's takoyaki. So you see many octopus sculptures. |
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| If you are adventurous you can buy Fugu. I wasn't. |
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| A busy takoyaki stall. Merran had not tried takoyaki yet, so we decided to stop and get some. |
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| Making takoyaki. |
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| I don't know what he's selling, but I don't want any thank you. |
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| Ah, strange head statue/pillars outside a hotel. They are heads with feet. I don't even try to understand anymore. |
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| The entrance to a love hotel. We had to stop for a photo. |
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| Here is one entrance to the street, this was on the dodgy side. |
Well, that's all I want to do for now, mostly because I'm hungry. I may come back to this later today to finish off Golden Week. If that is the case you may have to go back a post to start with this one. That is if any of you are still reading this.
