Tarui Festival

Today there was a Festival in Tarui.  There were yummy treats, entertainment, fabulous food, a ghost house, delicious snacks, games, sweet desserts, and many wonderful activities.  Did I mention there was food?  

I was planning to go to this event with a couple of new friends, but they were unable to go last minute, so I went alone.  I planned to go for a short time, since I was by myself.  But even though I was by myself, I didn't feel alone.  I had Junior High students run up to me to say hi, I had some adults try to talk to me, and everyone was really kind at the different stalls.  (And patient as I attempted to speak Japanese).  I am still getting pointed at once in awhile, whether it's a student who is too shy to come up to me and talk but they still point me out to their family and friends, or sometimes it's just a stranger who is pointing out the obvious foreigner in the crowd.  (Darn blond hair!!  One lady at one of the stalls kept pointing to my eyes and looked mesmerized.)  But besides being pointed at once in awhile, I felt pretty comfortable amongst the locals.  So instead of going for just an hour like I planned, I stayed for about three.

At first, I didn't know where to walk to.  (I didn't exactly know where the festival was supposed to be...my friends knew.  But Tarui is a very small place).  So I started to walk down the street and I noticed a few people walking in a certain direction.  I followed them.  This led me to an activity that was going on in the Festival.  It seems that they had teams of teenage boys who would pick up another teammate and carry him in what looked like a traditional Japanese vessel of some sort.  Obviously, they were having some sort of competition in which they were being timed.  Here are a couple of photos of that event:

There were many different stalls and booths selling food, toys, balloons (my favourite), trinkets, and there were many booths that had different games and activities.

The above picture is what the block looked like.

These kids were trying to win a prize by shooting an air rifle at a target.

Masks and more!  I would have bought one, but they were too small for me.  (I later realized that is because they were for children, not adults like me.  *sniff*)

Pick up a ball and get a prize!

This picture doesn't do justice to this activity.  It was a lot bigger in person.

Fish for your snack, children!  Fish, I say!

Fish for your pet, children!  Fish, I say!

There were many food stalls as well.  There was shaved ice, beer, ice tea stands, beer, chocolate covered bananas, noodles, more beer, meat on a stick, and a couple of beverage stands:-)

Chocolate covered bananas.  YUM!

Strange, I didn't take many pictures of the food stands.  (That is why you are seeing this sweet fish picture twice.  Fish, children, fish!!)  Perhaps I was too busy eating to take pictures!

When I reached the end of the festival, there was this beautiful shrine (I think) blocking the street to signify that the festival didn't go past that point in the street (again, I think).  Here is a picture of that shrine...thingy.  (You be the judge:-)

After I saw this, I turned around and walked through the festival again.  And that's when I noticed something very strange...

Now, as I was walking through the street I came up to a building with a line-up to enter.  There was a speaker that had people screaming and had strange sounds.  There were some students from Fuwa Junior High in line and they waved me over.  They explained to me that it was a Ghost House.  I have to admit, the outside looked really freaky, with garbage bags attached and blowing in the wind, and blood-red writing that said things like, "Murder, Death, Kill" (HA!  I just sounded like I stepped out of the movie "Demolition Man")

Part of me wanted to go in.  I do love scary movies.  In saying that, I do not like watching scary movies alone and I did not want to walk through that house alone.  I know I could have walked through with some students, but there were a few things that prevented me from going in, even if I knew I would later regret not getting the courage to walk through that creepy place:

1) I did not want the students to see me afraid (I love scary things, but I can be a complete baby if I'm scared enough.  Just ask my In-laws about this year's trip to Hawaii and how I acted during the parasailing...man, I hate heights!)

2) Even if I had company while going through the hellish house, I would have to go home alone and be home alone.  And I already have a house with a "restricted" room that I am forbidden to go into and I'm a little freaked about that.  I do NOT want to add to my anxiety by scaring myself in the afternoon and thinking about it later when I go to bed.  (What can I say, I've seen the movie "The Grudge" and the setting of that scary movie was a Haunted House in JAPAN).  So I do not want to be home alone in a strange country, freaked out of my mind.  (I will discuss my house in more detail in another blog another time.  I went shopping this weekend and I purchased a few items for my house and so once I tidy up, I will take pictures of my Japanese home and post them in this blog another day).

3) And that brings me to my third and final point.  I like scary movies.  I like scary movies very much.  However, the scariest movies I have seen are Japanese Horror Movies or Hollywood Horror movies that are based off Japanese Horror Movies.  What Japanese people consider as "scary" I consider deathly frightening to the core and will give you horrible nightmares until the day that you die.  Do I really want to see what a Japanese Ghost House would look like when I know that the Japanese movie "Ringu" still haunts my dreams when I think about it before going to bed?  (Aw, crap, I'm writing this blog at night.  I must watch something happy before going to bed.  I'll watch...Japanese TV!)

Anyway, enough talk.  Here's the picture.  (After that build-up, the picture doesn't look like much...but the speaker sound-effects that were coming from this building made me snap off a quick photo and rush out of there as quickly as I could).

Now let's talk about something happy!!  There was a stage setup to entertain the people.  There were some local dance groups that performed, other stage performers, and the Kita Junior High Brass Band performed!!  WOOT WOOT!

Now, I have only been to Fuwa Junior High so far.  I go to Kita Junior High this week.  So I was thrilled to see the students performing at this festival.  They were, of course, amazing!  Their tone was beautiful, they were playing challenging works, and rhythmically they were a dream!  (Ahem, band geek moment.  I will stop writing about band stuff because it may bore some of you or worse, prove that I am just a big band nerd who secretly misses playing/conducting a band.  Oh well, I'll be back in the saddle again one day!  But until then, pictures!!)

This entertainer had her pet monkey do tricks.  You heard me.  Pet monkey.  It did tricks.  Don't believe me?  I have a second picture to prove it!

Aww, look at the monkey!  Cute monkey!

A local "dance" group, I think.  

Another local dance group....again, I think it's a dance group.  Boy, I need to learn Japanese fast if I want to understand the MC!

There were some interesting costumes at the festival.  Strangely, they acted quite ordinary...until I asked for a picture, in which case they struck this epic pose and high-fived me later.  (I guess the guy in the middle was supposed to have his hat standing up - the other two made fun of him after the picture.  I don't need to speak Japanese to know when someone is being teased!!)  

Kita Junior High Brass Band!  They all wore shirts that said, "We love brass band!"  But wait a minute, I see a Woodwind.  In fact, I see a lot of Woodwinds.  This isn't a Brass Band, this is a Wind Ensemble/Concert Band!!  Is the translation wrong?  Or do they really call their bands "Brass Bands" when they have Percussion, Brass, AND WOODWINDS in their band?  Strange.  As a Flutist (Woodwind player) I am tempted to ask about this...

Well done, Kita Junior High Brass Band!!!  I can't wait to meet you all tomorrow!

These people were throwing free food at us for about 5-10 minutes straight!  It was awesome!  Did I get anything.....no.  I was enjoying the atmosphere too much.  I just sat there, laughing to myself at how happy everyone was.  Especially the children:-)

After the band performance and the food toss event, I walked home with my head held high.  I had a great time at the festival.  I am very lucky to be here in Japan.  I love it here.  I am very excited to go to Kita Junior High tomorrow to meet some more students.  I took this picture as I walked home because the sun was setting behind me and it made my shadow look tall and long.  What a wonderful day!

PS, Oh yeah, and I bought a new bath mat.  Her name is SuSu.  Isn't she adorable!!  'Til next time!