gion matsuri!
hai hai hai, update update..
So here's some info on Gion Matsuri (I'd like to point out that it's one of the 3 biggest festivals in Japan), also, that we went on the night before the parade.. because parade day it's waaaay too hard to get a good seat.. so ff that..
went to gion matsuri in full yukata + obi+ cute shoes+cute purse outfit deal. I really didn't do much with the hair business (this is where it would've come in handy to have a pocket-book Ashley - Ashleeeey by the way.. you'd make billions here - all yukata outfits require updo's)
the yukata is the one that tomoko-san lent to me.. it's a hand-dyed light blue with pale light orange butterflies that were of course.. hand-painted. needless to say it is VERY expensive - i made sure to stick my butt out of the way while i was eating so i wouldn't drip on it. Many ppl weren't in yukatas, but i'd say about 40% did wear them, and there are yukatas for guys too, and jinbeis
well getting there was fun, i went with Oguchi-san, Fukuoka-san and Akira-san - so we had a lot of convos about how things are done in Japan, where they've been, what movies they watch..
Movies cost $18 on a regular day here!!!! And I thought 7.50 was expensive! When I told them that the A&M Film Society sometimes puts on semi-recent releases for a buck.. they almost had a heart attack.. lol
When we got there... (it was early) it started raining so we went into a parking garage in the meantime.. cuz none of us brought umbrellas - even though we were still in rainy season....
In the meantime I had the chance to watch the street. Vendors are lined up in little booths along the side of the main streets and adjacent streets. Foods:
- frankfurters (they said no no, not sausage, not hotdog.. frankfurter),
- crepes (rolled up in a triangle fashion kinda like an ice cream cone and they add cornflakes to whatever fruit you put in!!
- sticky rice balls with yummy sauce
- shaved ice w/ syrups and bean pastes
- candied apples (?well i didn't try one but it sure looked like a small apple)
- chocolate covered bananas
- yakisoba noodles
- heart shaped egg ontop of some rice thing? (i was full when i saw it)
- takoyaki & okonimiyaki (see Osaka info)
- skewers o meat
Games:
- all sorts of raffles for everything from the typical stuffed animal.. to a PlayStation ???!?!?!
- getting the goldfish out of the shallow tub and into a bag with a paper laddle
- getting the super-bouncy balls out of the shallow tub and into a bag with a paper laddle
- let's play i wanna buy the expensive umbrellas and flashy toys from the lady game
the main attractions were checking out the floats and everyone else out. usually you go with a guy or with a group of friends, I didn't see that many ppl by themselves.
by the time Mori-san showed up the place was crowded!!! the main street (
The floats are like nothing I've ever seen. They're really traditional - just straight squares with gorgeous tapestry-type cloth surrounding it, a closed off upper area w/roof where the volunteers sing/chant/play music, and some sort of figurine representative of the area that carries the float. Each year, after the festival, the intricate float is taken completely apart and stored away. A new group of volunteers is elected (I think I heard by something like you put in your number and see if it comes up from the hat idea) and they take care of keeping, cleaning and putting the float back together again. I'm not sure who pushes it.
the floats are so old school that they roll in one direction only, so to turn around corners, another group of volunteers brings in slats of wood to slide under the wheels and then twist the slats so that the wheels face the other direction (sry if this isn't all that clear)
Other than that there's not much else to do, but go to dinner and drink and eat to your heart's contentment... or well.. until before the last train leaves.. which I think is like 1:30am. I explained about Bogota's 8pm-4am clubbing and College Station's 11pm-2am clubbing - much laughter ensued.
interesting things...
took a picture of two Maiko's (somewhat like Geisha's in that their artistically skilled and entertain.. but a much higher class of connotation I believe) and got a picture taken with them too
close ups of the floats were gorgeous!!!! intricate tapestries and woodwork!
Mori-san seems to have a thing for taking pictures with policemen.... (he took the picture)
well it's more of an everytime we go out to eat for dinner thing.. but it's always fun to have silly conversations about drinking and how drunk the other person is(jokingly of course) b/c they spilled water/sake etc... oh and I found out that fermented squid.. is only good in small amounts (for me) - oh and it's not covered in pink sauce (ketchup + mayo)
So here's some info on Gion Matsuri (I'd like to point out that it's one of the 3 biggest festivals in Japan), also, that we went on the night before the parade.. because parade day it's waaaay too hard to get a good seat.. so ff that..
went to gion matsuri in full yukata + obi+ cute shoes+cute purse outfit deal. I really didn't do much with the hair business (this is where it would've come in handy to have a pocket-book Ashley - Ashleeeey by the way.. you'd make billions here - all yukata outfits require updo's)
the yukata is the one that tomoko-san lent to me.. it's a hand-dyed light blue with pale light orange butterflies that were of course.. hand-painted. needless to say it is VERY expensive - i made sure to stick my butt out of the way while i was eating so i wouldn't drip on it. Many ppl weren't in yukatas, but i'd say about 40% did wear them, and there are yukatas for guys too, and jinbeis
well getting there was fun, i went with Oguchi-san, Fukuoka-san and Akira-san - so we had a lot of convos about how things are done in Japan, where they've been, what movies they watch..
Movies cost $18 on a regular day here!!!! And I thought 7.50 was expensive! When I told them that the A&M Film Society sometimes puts on semi-recent releases for a buck.. they almost had a heart attack.. lol
When we got there... (it was early) it started raining so we went into a parking garage in the meantime.. cuz none of us brought umbrellas - even though we were still in rainy season....
In the meantime I had the chance to watch the street. Vendors are lined up in little booths along the side of the main streets and adjacent streets. Foods:
- frankfurters (they said no no, not sausage, not hotdog.. frankfurter),
- crepes (rolled up in a triangle fashion kinda like an ice cream cone and they add cornflakes to whatever fruit you put in!!
- sticky rice balls with yummy sauce
- shaved ice w/ syrups and bean pastes
- candied apples (?well i didn't try one but it sure looked like a small apple)
- chocolate covered bananas
- yakisoba noodles
- heart shaped egg ontop of some rice thing? (i was full when i saw it)
- takoyaki & okonimiyaki (see Osaka info)
- skewers o meat
Games:
- all sorts of raffles for everything from the typical stuffed animal.. to a PlayStation ???!?!?!
- getting the goldfish out of the shallow tub and into a bag with a paper laddle
- getting the super-bouncy balls out of the shallow tub and into a bag with a paper laddle
- let's play i wanna buy the expensive umbrellas and flashy toys from the lady game
the main attractions were checking out the floats and everyone else out. usually you go with a guy or with a group of friends, I didn't see that many ppl by themselves.
by the time Mori-san showed up the place was crowded!!! the main street (
The floats are like nothing I've ever seen. They're really traditional - just straight squares with gorgeous tapestry-type cloth surrounding it, a closed off upper area w/roof where the volunteers sing/chant/play music, and some sort of figurine representative of the area that carries the float. Each year, after the festival, the intricate float is taken completely apart and stored away. A new group of volunteers is elected (I think I heard by something like you put in your number and see if it comes up from the hat idea) and they take care of keeping, cleaning and putting the float back together again. I'm not sure who pushes it.
the floats are so old school that they roll in one direction only, so to turn around corners, another group of volunteers brings in slats of wood to slide under the wheels and then twist the slats so that the wheels face the other direction (sry if this isn't all that clear)
Other than that there's not much else to do, but go to dinner and drink and eat to your heart's contentment... or well.. until before the last train leaves.. which I think is like 1:30am. I explained about Bogota's 8pm-4am clubbing and College Station's 11pm-2am clubbing - much laughter ensued.
interesting things...
took a picture of two Maiko's (somewhat like Geisha's in that their artistically skilled and entertain.. but a much higher class of connotation I believe) and got a picture taken with them too
close ups of the floats were gorgeous!!!! intricate tapestries and woodwork!
Mori-san seems to have a thing for taking pictures with policemen.... (he took the picture)
well it's more of an everytime we go out to eat for dinner thing.. but it's always fun to have silly conversations about drinking and how drunk the other person is(jokingly of course) b/c they spilled water/sake etc... oh and I found out that fermented squid.. is only good in small amounts (for me) - oh and it's not covered in pink sauce (ketchup + mayo)
posted by acidbytez at 7:17 AM
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