If you remember last update, Friday I went dancing, Saturday my friend came down from Tokyohama and we went to USJ (where there were zombies) and Sunday was General Conference, where I slept and... took a shower, because after two days of excitement I smelled like death. Over the weekend, the weather started turning (finally) and it started cooling into fall weather.
Monday was a national holiday, "National athletics day", in honor of the day the Olympics opened in Tokyo. In honor of this we went to... the tower of the Sun.
Ok...I know the first picture up will show on facebook, so I'm torn whether to show the tower first, or to post a less disturbing picture first...
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| was this less disturbing? |
We ran into a travel booth that advertised how awesome the crab they were from was... yeah.
Then we went to the tower of the sun.
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| It looks like it's about to attack. |
It was for the Expo of '70. They kept it in the park. It was...less disturbing than the cult tower we went to that one time. It was also smaller, thank heavens.
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| Best part of the day was the fabulous weather. |
It has three faces. Two on the front
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| one on the back |
And of course, it's very tall.
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| I still can't explain this. |
So...there's that. It was...pretty neat in it's own way. Thankfully, that wasn't the only thing there.
There were lots of people there, because, well, beautiful day, national holiday, athletics (get out of the house)
Here's something you don't know about Japan. Lots of the little amusement parks have a "bike section." They have a variety of bike...machines... and the kids pedal around a small course and burn energy. This one has the most interesting bikes I've seen yet.
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| I called this the egg. |
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| panda |
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| giraffe |
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| see the yellow in front? she spun in a circle. |
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| a chicken |
They had a few that cycled sideways and ones where the parents just sat there while the kids pedaled, and the other way around, and it was just SO FUN.
There was other stuff going on,
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| athletic games |
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| lovely flowers |
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| kids playground |
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| I'm not sure what this was, but it cost money so we weren't going to check it out. |
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| More playground. "Fish and ships and vinegar! Vinegar! Vinegar!" |
Oh! and there was this fun thing we found
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| It's a cotton candy machine! |
You put in 100 yen, (about $1) and it dispensed sugar and you got to spin your own cotton candy! :D It was great!
And yeah, we just kicked around the park and saw all the neat stuff, and really enjoyed seeing everything. Later we went to the connected mall, but only to see the Pokemon store.
It was a relaxing day, but when it was over, I was still happy to go to bed. :)
The rest of the week was me saying goodbye to my schools. Some of the kids were a little surprised because I gave just normal lessons and then said goodbye at the end. They sent me off with adorable notes as well, so I'm SURE they had warning. It was very sweet! :)
And Friday school saw me off with a bouquet!
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| now I need a vase. |
It was very nice.
Remember how I said that the weather had turned on Monday?
Well! Fall hit like a TRUCK.
It went from low 80's to around 65-70. Yes, 10-15 degree drop! It was harsh.
It warmed up a little by Saturday (still chilly) and I went to a festival...you know, I might just stop saying I went to a festival. you all KNOW I'm going to a festival. It's always festivals! And some weeks, I just want to stay in, but...after this next festival. :)
Anyhow, I met a new festival friend. I met her through peoples on the internet, and after we re-assured each other that we are not serial killers (yet) we met up!
So this festival was much smaller than our usual ones, but LOVELY. It was held at a traditional Japanese theater school.
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| looks kinda empty to start with |
Ok, so this was really neat. They studied old stories and storytelling, they had booths with traditional crafts
She's selling traditional rock sugar.
And they were apparently talking about these traditional crafts and the histories behind them. I say apparently, because it was still in Japanese. Oh well. I did get to try the Kendama!
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| See? Not a serial killer. |
And they even let us pull out the big ones!
c'mon! That's pretty cool, right?!
I'll admit, the bigger one is easier, but I did do some stuff I was surprised I could pull off. I'm like "No, I really can't do this." and I'd try and suddenly it'd work and I'm like "OF COURSE I CAN'T DO THAT IN FRONT OF MY STUDENTS."
Oh! and check this out! You know this toy?
Jacob's ladder, right? Well, of COURSE it's not going to be called that in Japan, so I asked! You know what they call it? A "pata-pata" :D ISN'T THAT GREAT?! Japan loves its onomonopias, and this is just a wonderful example.
Along with that, they had a show! They did:
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| taiko drumming |
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| umbrella dance (not like a fan dance) |
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| dragon (lion?) dance |
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| traditional dance, they had us join in! :) |
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| over-dramatic mochi pounding |
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| some sort of mask dance |
There was a lot of traditional singing, which was...I'll be honest, a little creepy to hear at first. But even then I could admire the steady singing of close dissonance. Best part was the puppetry!
THIS is not what I expected when they said "puppet"! The SKILL
And I swear he didn't blink the ENTIRE TIME.
Later they had a lady puppet, but sadly my friend and I had to go. Still, great day!
And then Sunday I succumbed to the sickness.
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