Hi,
The family I recently homestayed with invited me to go with them to Ise Shrine, Mie prefecture, a famous site in Japan...
We had a great time, and my host family even helped my learn the customs for visiting shrines (of which there are quite a few).
Kakigori, a very popular summer food in Japan.
The man in the picture above was telling a story using a scroll, which I thought was interesting...
Hi,
Recently there have been a number of festivals going on around Nagoya, mostly Tanabata (star festival) or Hanabi (fireworks festival) events.
I was lucky enough to go of two of the reasonably popular ones - the Ichinomiya Tanabata Festival and the Nagara Gawa Hanabi (which is actually held in Gifu, not Aichi prefecture).
The pictures will explain better than me what the events are like, so here they are!
Tanabata
In Gifu
I got totally captivated by Gifu Castle sitting up there on the top of the highest hill around...
Hanabi
I thought it was crowded already...
But then...
I took a lot of photos of the fireworks...
Hi,
Yes, I went to see the sumo! Though, it took some effort: a lot of days were sold out. I don't suppose I really need to say much about sumo, so I'll just post some pictures! My pictures didn't turn out that great, but you get the idea...
Well, there you have it - it was lots of fun, and pretty interesting!
Here are some youtube videos of the tournament and day that I went to, if you're interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09Hc0kQqpq0 (this one is pretty long...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePS_6xzBe-c (this one has interviews and stuff - but it is of one bout, so it gives you a feel for the overall atmosphere and process of one bout)
Thanks!
Hi,
Sorry to write such a confusing post title, but I could think of few ways to render the term εδΊε (juunihitoe), which refers to a type of dress that I had the opportunity to wear. As the name suggests, the outfit consists of 12 layers, but I think I only wore 8 or so.
The overall effect was quite heavy (10kg~), and took a decent amount of time to achieve. It was also very hot, despite purportedly being a summer version of the costume. I also found it quite hard to move in the costume...but it seems that the wealthy women did wear it, despite these setbacks...
Anyway, here are some pictures, which will probably explain much better than I have!
The last photo is probably a bit hard to see, but, much to my surprise, I ended up in the Chunichi Shinbun...famous, huh? =)
Unfortunately (or fortunately) I didn't get to wear the head piece that you can see in the photo that is second from the bottom. That was because my hair colour wouldn't work~you could see the natural hair as well as the wig. According to the lady wearing it, that was the heaviest thing...
In the earlier photos, you can see the layers going on. I quite like the colours of this particular outfit...
Well, I hope this will be interesting to read~it's a bit of culture that I knew nothing about before the experience!
Thanks
Hi,
Here is our next Newsletter - it's a bit of a short one this month...
Yakiniku with the girls from one of my classes
We went out to dinner because some of these girls (from the Australian Lifestyle class) will soon be on Exchange in Australia!
Young Japanese girls are huge fans of Purikura - photo booth...As you can probably see, it distorted my face.
Goju Karate Club in Japan
Luckily enough, this photo was recently taken of the Goju club that I'm attending here in Japan.
