Fireworks & Taiko

This year's Lake Towada Kosui Matsuri (十和田湖湖水祭り) was awesome! The rain held off for the weekend so I was able to enjoy fireworks on Saturday night and taiko on Sunday.

The weather was pretty close to perfect on Saturday night, in fact. It was comfortably cool so I wasn't dying of heat in my yukata. There was also a bit of a breeze which was important for clearing the smoke from the fireworks. Admittedly it was cloudy, but since the fireworks didn't go up that high it wasn't a problem in terms of visibility at all. ^_^

I didn't take many photos since a) taking photos of fireworks is difficult; and b) I wanted to enjoy watching them more than I wanted to take pictures of them, but here are a couple of pics:

Also, here's a pic of me in my new yukata from Uniqlo. When I bought a new yukata last year I told myself that I wasn't going to buy any more yukata, but since it was on sale--only 3990yen for the yukata, obi, and himo (cloth "ropes" used to tie the yukata)--I couldn't help myself. ^^;;

(Incidentally, I just realized that I never posted a picture of the yukata that I bought last year, so here it is:)

Sunday I went down to the festival again, this time with the members of the Suijin Kaminari Taiko (水神雷太鼓) group to watch their two performances. It was the first time I've seen them perform since last year's Aki Matsuri.

Even though I know I'm a far way from being able to perform in public, watching them definitely gave me incentive to work harder at taiko practice. Usually I'm the type that hates being in the spotlight--even peripherally--but seeing their performance made me really want to be able to perform with them. It looked like so much fun!

At the pace I learn I suspect that it will probably be at least half a year if not more before I'll even be close to being deemed "ready to perform" but I definitely plan to work hard to reach that point.

*sigh* If I hadn't taken almost 3 whole months off from January to March (preparing for my Kirita students' graduation) I might even have been ready to perform this time 'round. Oh well. All I can do is continue to do my best from now on! 

Here's a video of the final song from their second performance of the day. (Sorry, the sound and video aren't exactly in sync...) The song is called "Hanamatsuri" and it's pretty much the only song out of everything they performed that day that I can play from beginning to end. ^_^;;

日本人の知らない日本語ドラマ！！ (The Japanese Japanese People Don't Know)

I just learned that a drama based on the popular manga-form essay "日本人の知らない日本語" (Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo, i.e. "The Japanese Japanese People Don't Know") written by 海野凪子 (Umino, Nagiko) and illustrated by 蛇蔵 (Hebizou) will be airing on YTV/NTV (or RAB in Aomori) on Thursday nights from 23:58-24:38 starting July 15th (this week!). You can check out the official Japanese website at http://www.ytv.co.jp/nihongo.

!! I'm excited!! I really enjoyed the books so I have high hopes for the drama as well. The time slot is rather unfortunate (why so late?!) but I rarely go to bed earlier than 12:30am anyway, so I'll just have to make sure that I do all my bedtime preparations before the show starts so I can go to sleep pretty much right after it finishes.

This is shaping up to be a good summer, television wise, with Hotaru no Hikari 2 on Wednesday nights (22:00-23:00) and now Nihonjin no Shiranai Nihongo on Thursday nights. ^_^

Lake Towada Kosui Matsuri & Aomori Nebuta

There's a festival at Lake Towada this coming Saturday and Sunday (17-18th). Weather permitting, there will be fireworks from 8-9pm on both nights and during the day there will also be various events/performances (Yosakoi, taiko, etc.)

Last year the fireworks were canceled due to rain and strong winds, but I went two years ago and had a good time. This year I'm planning on going to watch the fireworks on Saturday night with a friend (yay! a chance to wear my yukata!) and then I'll be heading down Sunday morning with the taiko group I practice with. I won't be performing, but I'll be going to help move the taikos, and to (hopefully) be generally useful. =P  So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather will cooperate...

For more detailed information, check out the website (Japanese only) at http://www.kosuimaturi.com/

Speaking of festivals, Aomori Nebuta is also coming up in less than a month! The Festival runs from the 2nd-7th of August every year. Here's a rough schedule for this year's events:

Aug. 1st:
18:00~21:00 Festival "Eve" Celebrations
19:00~20:40 Fireworks at Asamushi Onsen

Aug. 2nd-3rd:
19:10-21:00 Children's Nebuta (15 floats); Large Nebuta (15 floats)

Aug. 4th-6th:
19:10-21:00 Large Nebuta (~20 floats)

Aug. 7th:
13:00-15:00 Large Nebuta (~20 floats)
19:15~21:00 Fireworks & Setting Nebuta to Sea

This is all from the Japanese website: http://www.nebuta.jp/schedule/2010schedule.html. There *is* an English site, but it doesn't have as much detailed info as the Japanese one. Still, it's a good place to start if you want to learn a bit about the history of Nebuta, how Nebuta floats are made, etc.

As big as this festival is in Aomori, in almost three years of living in the prefecture, I still haven't managed to see the festival yet. And it looks like this year I won't be able to make it out either, due to the timing of the arrival of the new Towada ALTs plus the junior high school Canada trip (海外発見).

Ah well. I just need to make sure I make it out at least once before I leave Aomori for good! =P

Community spirit

One of the things that really impresses me is the community spirit/pride I see in some of the more...rural...areas of Towada.

For example, today I went to the 8th Annual Kennan Kyoudogeinou Festival (第８回県南郷土芸能フェスティバル)--part of the Oirase Roman Park Festival (奥入瀬ろまんパークフェスティバル). (According to my Kenkyusha Dictionary, "Kyoudougeninou" can be translated as "local performing arts"--although I think that's a little awkward, I don't have a better translation, so...)

It featured local traditional dances from Towada-shi, Rokunohe-machi, and Shingo-mura. Representing Towada were Kamikirida Elementary School with the Kirida Koma Odori (駒踊り　horse dance) and Sawada Elementary School and the Sawada Keimai Club with the Sawada Keimai (鶏舞　chicken dance).

Even though I've seen both dances and all three of the groups' performances several times in the past, I still found it impressive. What I find most impressive is the amount of effort everyone involved--the schools, children, parents, local people--puts into preserving the local traditions/culture.

The elementary schools set aside time for the students to learn and practice the dances. Students give up their recess and lunch breaks to practice for performances. Parents and members of the community come in to teach the students and/or to play the flutes/drums as accompaniment. I especially respect the members of the Sawada Keimai Club (mostly junior high and high school students) because it's something they do outside of school, in their free time. (And although they weren't performing this time, there are also adult groups that perform both the Kirida Koma Odori and Sawada Keimai.)

I imagine they probably all feel a strong sense of community and pride in their local traditions/history/culture. It must be nice. If I was a person looking to start a family in Towada, I think I would want to live in the Kirita or Sawada area (or Takisawa or Horanai--they also have local traditional dances) rather than closer to the city centre.

Going to watch my students' performances also reminds me how lucky I was to get placed as the Kirita ALT because I doubt I would ever have found out about events like the Kyoudogeinou/Oirase Roman Park Festival otherwise.