After returning home and taking a shower, I made myself some well deserved dinner. I fried up some salmon and pork links and put it over some rice with carrots that I had prepared earlier:
The facts are out: I can actually cook!And now I am going to become unstuck in time and travel backwards, in honor of the late Kurt Vonnegut and his amazing writing talents. 32 hours ago, it was around 2 in the afternoon on Sunday, and I was enjoying a day off after having to go to Shinjuku for training 6 days in a row. I was finally sitting down with my Japanese textbook when I heard the clacking of wooden objects and whistles, along with an organized chanting coming from somewhere outside. I thought it must have been a dojo or some big martial arts thing or something, but the sound kept coming closer, turning into a huge crescendo of: "CLACK CLACK WHISTLE OYAAH CLACK CLACK WHISTLE OYAAAH!" It got to the point where the sound was right outside, but I couldn't see anything since my street turns at an obtuse angle and many building obstruct ones vision. At this point, I grabbed my camera and sprinted out the door to see just what was going on.
When I got to the bottom of the street, I saw a stand with green beans/lima beans/asian beans of some kind in a bowl, popsicles and beer and cups all laid out with a few attendees at the bottom of my street, which is a T intersection. On the opposite side of the table were at least 60 or 70 people in purple, ceremonious robes, all sounding jovial on that beautiful Summer Sunday. Here is what it looked like from that angle:
The sound had stopped, and so did the cameraman.
A massive feeding frenzy!
"ONE BEER OVER HERE!" "POPSICLE!" And various other cries I didn't understand immediately replaced the clacking, whistles and OYAAAHS.
When I got to the bottom of the street, I saw a stand with green beans/lima beans/asian beans of some kind in a bowl, popsicles and beer and cups all laid out with a few attendees at the bottom of my street, which is a T intersection. On the opposite side of the table were at least 60 or 70 people in purple, ceremonious robes, all sounding jovial on that beautiful Summer Sunday. Here is what it looked like from that angle:
The sound had stopped, and so did the cameraman.
A massive feeding frenzy!
"ONE BEER OVER HERE!" "POPSICLE!" And various other cries I didn't understand immediately replaced the clacking, whistles and OYAAAHS.At this point, I knew I had to get a better angle, and not wanting to be incredibly rude and disrepectful (which I already felt I was doing by invading this bubble of pure Japanese culture with my foreign presence), I didn't push my way through the crowd, but went the long way up the street and a few blocks over and back to see things more clearly. On the way, I met a man who was blocking off my street for the festivities, and we had a conversation that went something like this:
"Uh, excuse me, but what is that over there?"
"That is Kitamachi's town festival."
"Oh, really? Cool! Do you know what it's called?"
"Well, not really, sorry."
"That's OK, um, how often do they have it?"
"Twice a year."
"Thanks!"
So, even though I don't know much about the traditions of festival-related details, I extrapulated that much from the random road-blocker-guy. And, when I finally reached a good vantage point, I became unstuck in time again, slipped back into the present moment and said to myself: Enough with the descriptions and words and such, just show them.
OK!
It's not obvious from the pictures, but whatever that "ark of the covanent"-looking thing was in the middle, they began dancing around with it and moving down the street again. They had apparently only stopped at the T-intersection for a snack break at a preordained stand.
So, that was random and cool, and it really brightened my day. Afterwards me and my house-mate Dayn went exploring the town, where we found a bunch of cool stuff that I didn't know existed, including: An arcade, a video game store, a big used book store, a gym and a pizza place. Awesome! I bought HD cables for my 360 too, mwahahahahaaa...
And that's about it. Thanks for reading, and to close, here are some pictures from the roof of my building, which is only about 3 stories. Still, it gives you an accurate, if somewhat miniscule, idea of the clusterfuck of Urbania which surrounds me. Check it out:
"This isn't me, I never asked to feel this way. I can never justify why every dream has to end. The morning's coming, so now we're falling, in and out of things we've said, in and out of dreams we've let die!" - Dead Hearts.
P.S. A few extra shots from Karaoke last weekend, courtesy of my new friend Claire:
"Uh, excuse me, but what is that over there?"
"That is Kitamachi's town festival."
"Oh, really? Cool! Do you know what it's called?"
"Well, not really, sorry."
"That's OK, um, how often do they have it?"
"Twice a year."
"Thanks!"
So, even though I don't know much about the traditions of festival-related details, I extrapulated that much from the random road-blocker-guy. And, when I finally reached a good vantage point, I became unstuck in time again, slipped back into the present moment and said to myself: Enough with the descriptions and words and such, just show them.
OK!
It's not obvious from the pictures, but whatever that "ark of the covanent"-looking thing was in the middle, they began dancing around with it and moving down the street again. They had apparently only stopped at the T-intersection for a snack break at a preordained stand.
So, that was random and cool, and it really brightened my day. Afterwards me and my house-mate Dayn went exploring the town, where we found a bunch of cool stuff that I didn't know existed, including: An arcade, a video game store, a big used book store, a gym and a pizza place. Awesome! I bought HD cables for my 360 too, mwahahahahaaa...
And that's about it. Thanks for reading, and to close, here are some pictures from the roof of my building, which is only about 3 stories. Still, it gives you an accurate, if somewhat miniscule, idea of the clusterfuck of Urbania which surrounds me. Check it out:
"This isn't me, I never asked to feel this way. I can never justify why every dream has to end. The morning's coming, so now we're falling, in and out of things we've said, in and out of dreams we've let die!" - Dead Hearts.P.S. A few extra shots from Karaoke last weekend, courtesy of my new friend Claire:
No comments:
Post a Comment