P.S. If you still want more

So I've been keeping an online photo gallery as well--theoretically anyway, since I haven't updated it since...umm...August.

But all that's changed--I've turned over a new leaf (the one called "posting is better than homework") and updated it.
I took *lots* more photos--especially of the shamisen parade and Meiji Jingu--than could possibly fit in a blog post, so if you're interested in seeing more of those, they're all up at my gallery.
The address is:
www.kodakgallery.com/sarah_cortina
and I'm pretty sure you don't have to be signed up or anything to view the photos.

So, enjoy!

~sarah

流鏑馬 Yabusame!!

I humbly apologize in advance for the overload of pics/video that is to follow.
これからの山ほどの写真とビデオで、大変申し訳ございません。
(see, Taigu Hyougen is useful for something!)
I apologize also for the sometimes poor quality of the pics. The lighting was really weird cause of the trees, and because it was so crowded I had to hold my camera all the way up in the air to get a shot of the target...so the shots aren't terribly clean-looking.

We were worried that we'd be late for the yabusame, which was supposed to start at 1pm, but Molly and I ended up running into the procession right as it was heading out for the shooting grounds. So, you can see the horses...and now, this is the size of the target that they're actually shooting at:
I took a video of the procession of archers and assistant-people as they enter the shooting grounds for the first time.


And here they are coming back over toward the starting point:
These guys have various ceremonial roles--retrieving the arrows, fixing the target if it falls off, confirming the hit... things like that. Oh, and here's another shot of one of the archers, you can see him a bit better here. Now, for some of the actual shooting! I wish I had been able to capture still shots of the archers, but they were just going too fast. And I don't have any fancy video editing software (or any of the skills to do it) so those also I will just kind of have to post as-is.
But first off--a hit!


The next one doesn't quite make it, but he was really close!


And another hit. I swear, the most common word I heard that afternoon was "かっこいい！" and it's true!! :-D


Here's the archers riding back down to the starting point after the first round of shooting. This is when the dudes with the hats get to hand them back their arrows.


For the next round, they switched the kind of target to a (*much*) smaller one. Sorry about the next couple pics--this is where my camera battery ran out, so I was reduced to using my keitai. So I mean, I spose for a cell phone the quality's pretty good, but...
At any rate, here's the new target: It's tiny!!! And here's an extremely poor-quality video of someone actually *hitting* that tiny target! It's a little difficult to see just from the vid that he hit it, but you can definitely tell from the cheering and flag-waving, LOL.

(Wow, in retrospect, that really *is* a poor-quality video.... Oh well, I'll keep it in).

And this is the end of my blog postings for the time being. I think I've pretty much covered everything interesting that's happened over the break--and nothing interesting's likely to happen on Sunday, cause well...I have to actually start all of the homework that was assigned over the break. Yes, homework. So I foresee a day of manic studying holed up in my room (which is part of the reason I wanted to get this blog stuff taken care of now, even if it did mean staying up a little late--altho it's nothing compared to my college days. Wow, I can actually say that, huh: "my college days"...ugh that's weird...).
Ok, so I got completely and utterly off-topic there...I blame it on the lateness of the hour. Anyway, wish me luck in my studying endeavors (and not *too much* procrastination).
That's all for now. じゃ、またね。

Here endeth the 休み

Friday was the best!!!
I met up with Molly and went into Tokyo to go to the 秋大祭 Great Autumn Festival at Meiji Jingu, which is a temple built to honor the spirits of the Meiji emperor and his wife. The emperor was born in early November, so each year around his birthday they hold a huge festival at the shrine, featuring performances and exhibitions of all sorts of traditional Japanese arts and martial arts. It was really amazing, and I know I didn't even see half of the stuff that was going on today.
There was a chrysanthemum exhibition, with chrysanthemums (of course) as well as all these little bonsai things that people had made into different shapes and stuff. Really cool! And everywhere we went, there were tons of people, and lots of Japanese people dressed not just in kimono, but in these really traditional, fancy outfits like what you'd wear to a coming of age ceremony or something. It was wonderful to see! I think one place in the temple that we passed, there was actually a wedding going on. At least, that's what it looked like: And of course there were lots of foreign tourists taking endless pictures of the kids all dressed up--they were really cute, but I felt kind of sorry for them. Speaking of cute...these kids weren't dressed up, but they were so adorable I just couldn't resist! ;-P We also passed a small stage where there were some people doing a taiko drumming performance, which we only watched for a few minutes, but it was really impressive. I took a video!


And then in various locations around the grounds there was a whole bunch of different martial arts demonstrations going on. I didn't get pictures of lots of it, cause my camera battery died--so what I don't have photographic evidence of is 1) the Iaido demonstration: sort of like kendo (Japanese swordfighting) except they use real swords instead of wooden ones, so I guess you could say it's more like Japanese fencing or something; 2) a whole bunch of other martial arts that I don't really know the names for--they were fighting with wooden swords like kendo, but without armor, and there was one where instead of swords they used really long wooden staffs, and even sometimes a staff-person vs. a sword-person.
One that I did manage to get some pics of was again, something I don't know the name of. But a bunch of guys in samurai armor came out onto the field and were doing exercises firing their muskets, and there was even a cannon that went off once. I wasn't expecting it, and the BOOM scared the crap out of me.But of course the whole reason that I wanted to come to the Meiji Jingu festival in the first place was because of kyudo (--whee!!). LOL. There were actually several different kyudo things going on, but most of them were at like 9am, which when it takes an hour to get to the temple, is a bit early. So I had to sacrifice those. But the best part was, fortunately, late enough that I could get there to see it. And that is something called Yabusame. Yabusame is kyudo done from horseback--they ride at breakneck speed toward the target, and then shoot as the horse runs past it, without stopping. I had heard about it, and seen pictures, but never thought I would actually get the chance to see it in person--so when I heard about the Meiji Jingu festival (thank you, Amy!!!) I was about as thrilled as it's possible to be.
...And as I'm writing this, and thinking about the million pictures and videos that I took today...I'm realizing that this post will get even longer than the last one. So in the name of economy, I think I'll cut this post off here, and then resume the Yabusame ecstasies in a new post. So until then... ;-D

浜大祭

Friday was something that I'd been waiting for, ever since I first heard about it--IUC arranged for us to go to the 横浜市立大学学園祭 Yokohama City University's School Festival (浜大祭 for short).
The main reason that I was looking forward to this trip so much, is that we'd been told there would be the possibility of joining some of the student clubs/teams, and I was really looking to use that as a way of making Japanese friends. That is definitely been the only major complaint I have with IUC--there's no built-in way of meeting Japanese our age, which has meant that up to now, I haven't been able to really make any Japanese friends. The friends I have made are wonderful, and I love hanging out with them, but they're all gaijin like me, which can be frustrating--sometimes to the point that I start wondering if I'm really in Japan. But I digress.
Probably around 15 IUC-ers--we met up at Yokohama station bright and early in the morning (ugh) and all headed out to the HamaDai campus together. For starters, we were broken up into groups, and met with student volunteers who would give us a tour of the campus and the festival. Outside there was a stage with student performances (dance and music); lots of tents where various clubs/organizations were selling goods or food; stalls with different Japanese fair games... you get the idea. (For those readers familiar with the 'Croft, think Fall Festival, but bigger).
I found out later that most of the other tour groups didn't fare quite as well, and people mostly ended up leaving around 1 or 2pm--so the group I got placed in was clearly the best! :-D My group was me, Jason, and Misa; and our student guides were Ai, Naoko, and Jacky (he was actually an international student as well, from China). They were all really friendly, and we had a blast!
Ironically, walking around at the festival, the first group that we got accosted by happened to be the archery club, trying to get people over to their booth where you could try and shoot a target or balloons to win prizes. I mentioned that I had been on the archery team too, so they decided to let me use a "real" bow, instead of the cheap & light ones they had for everybody else. This was great, except for 1) the bow was right-handed (when I explained I was a lefty, the response was "頑張ってください Well, please try") and 2) it was *reeeeally* heavy. So I didn't acquit myself all that well, but I did manage to hit one balloon--and win a lollipop.
We ran into another IUC group--here's Hansell-sensei getting ready to try his luck...Next we wandered inside and found out we were just in time for a screening in the film club's room. They were showing 3 short student films (about 15 mins each). The first one was a "looking back on your happy youthful days" sort of a piece, with 3 or 4 high school boys goofing around on the train platform, and then it cut to one of the boys in a suit on his way to work, and he sees the platform and remembers those days. The second film--in addition to being in Japanese--was one of those super-deep indie psychological things, so I really didn't understand it at all. The third film was my favorite--a sort of sweet love story. A girl runs into this guy who grants 3 wishes to someone--he explains that he can't go away until she's made all of her wishes, but she can't decide on the last one, and eventually as time goes on, she realizes she likes having him around. Finally the guy explains that she has until tomorrow to make her wish, or he'll disappear anyway, but she decides not to say what her last wish is, since either way he'll leave, but then at the very end he comes back, and when she asks why, he says "It's what you wished for." Aaawwww.......
After the movie, we were all pretty hungry so we went in search of food at the stalls outside. And there was a *lot* of food. Takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba, Chinese fried rice, tempura ice cream, cotton candy (which I actually got to try making! ;-D It's a lot harder than it looks)--and the list goes on. At any rate, it was yummy. Here's a view of one of the main food-stall streets.The orchestra club also had a booth nearby, where they were playing chamber music pretty much all day. I guess they traded off...?After lunch we went back inside the building cause Jacky had found this really neat room he wanted us all to see. It was the...Train Club...or something? I'm not really sure. At any rate, they had this neat train-driving simulation video game, and the controller was an actual set of train controls. You had to stop at the stations, and watch out for signals and all that stuff. Jason tried it, but I think I would have crashed or something. I'm not entirely certain that it was even *possible* in the game to crash, but I think I would have managed it. They also had a table with all these neat train parts, like those hanging handles in the cars, and different train signs. We posed! From L-R is Jason, Misa, me, and Ai. Naoko was taking the pictures, so she's not in it--and Jacky got a phone call so he ended up not being in the picture either. He was a little sad when he came back that we had done it without him. ;-P LOL.
Then, it was time for Naoko's friend's band--The Daytrippers--to go on stage outside, so we all went back to go and see their show. They seriously thought they were rock stars for real. It was pretty fun--especially when the lead singer (Naoko's friend) fell off the stage in the middle of the first song (*not* on purpose). :-O But I did snatch a video of them (post-tumble). Note the very enthusiastic fans to stage left, LOL. I only wish I'd taken more video, but しょうがないから、とりあえずenjoy what I've posted here.


Lastly (but definitely not leastly) the final event on the main stage was something called "Mr. Lady," which is basically a beauty contest for guys dressed as girls. There were 4 contestants, and they went through a series of rounds to determine who made the best woman. As Ai explained to me, "At other universities, like Keio or Waseda or wherever, they all do beauty contests and stuff, to see who's the prettiest girl, or the coolest guy--but that's boring, everybody does that. At HamaDai, we've never done those kinds of contests. Instead, we have okama contests." ;-P
Here's contestant #1: "My hobbies are shopping...and laundry..."


The next video is contestant #4, who's the one that Ai thought was the obvious winner from the get-go. And it's true, he was completely adorable! ;-) I only wish I'd taken a video of #3 (the one in the dark sweater and skirt) as well, because he had a super deep voice, and just made the most AWFUL woman I've ever seen. It was hilarious.


After that, the festival was winding down, and Jason and I had promised to meet Molly and Paul for okonomiyaki dinner, so we had to leave the festival. But we'd already exchanged contact info with Naoko, Ai, and Jacky, and they promised to get some of their friends together and call us up for izakaya, or bowling, or clubbing in Roppongi sometime soon. (Earlier in the day, Naoko or Ai would say, "yeah, we'll all have to go out together. We'll go to a club" and Jacky would excitedly jump in with "Tonight? :-D " )

Wow, this became a really long post. Sorry. Hope you enjoyed my ramblings tho!

Halloween!

So, this isn't really a post, cause I didn't actually do anything special for Halloween. There's lots of pumpkin decorations around and everything, but people in Japan don't really do the whole costumes, trick-or-treat thing on Halloween.
But I happened to be walking around 元町 Motomachi on Wed afternoon, and ran into this huge Halloween parade thing. I hadn't realized anything would be going on, but it was essentially a big parade down the Motomachi main street, with tons of little kids all dressed up, and people handing out balloons and things... There was even this giant black spider thing in the middle of the street, made all out of balloons. I think the kids were also trick or treating at the stores, or something.
Anyway, like I said, I wasn't expecting for there to be anything, so I didn't have my camera or anything on me, but the little kids were *soooo* cute so I did snap a few pics with my keitai.

A parade of what?

So, this will be the first in a series of posts about my totally amazing 秋休み。First off, is the "Quiet Shamisen Parade." And what exactly is a quiet shamisen parade?--you might be asking. I was wondering pretty much the same thing when I went to go see it.
The parade was in honor of some festival (I think?), and was held over in 祐天寺 Yutenji--Minato Mirai sen, on the way to Shibuya. 祐天寺 is apparently known for shamisen parades (or so I heard). Anyway, I went to see the parade with Paul--not an IUC student, but he's Amy L's roommate, and so has kind of become IUC by default. Paul's friend Kyoka (Japanese, but he met her in LA working at a radio station, I think?) is sort of an experimental musician/singer (I've heard her music described as "weird" or "out there") but she apparently also takes shamisen lessons--hence the parade. It was basically a whole bunch of people in kimonos and traditional Japanese dress, either playing the shamisen, singing, or doing traditional dances while they paraded down the street.
It was a really neat thing to see, and 祐天寺 is a bit of an old-fashioned sort of area so the whole thing had this really traditional, nostalgic feel to it. Made even more so by the hole in the wall ramen place that Paul and I ate dinner at after. We sat and chatted, waiting for Kyoka, and then went over with her to this sort of "after party" for the parade participants. It was held in a big room in a nearby kindergarten, which meant that we were all sitting on those preschooler-size mini chairs with our knees up in our chins, drinking beer and eating yakitori skewers. It was rather an odd experience. :-) Especially the part when the dude who was sort of in charge of the parade told me that I had "very pretty teeth." (Umm...OK.....?)

And now, for some more photos!

Paul and Kyoka.

Here's another one of Kyoka playing shamisen in the parade.

I just really liked this woman's kimono.

And now, for videos!!!


And next is one I took that lets you see a little more of the dancing.

P.S. Witness the damage...

Your average Wednesday afternoon at the kaitenzushi in the World Porters... Count the plates!

(This is what happens when we don't have afternoon class...)