November 13th I went out with my host family to the Oga Peninsula. We went all the way to that northern tip- where you can see the Sea of Japan on either side. Super chilly- but super neat. Pictures start with #93
On our way there we saw these Giant Namahage statues, which I embarrassingly remembered from this commercial:
(a Gum commercial)
So, I of course had to attempt to do the dance in front of the statues. (didn't work out very well- but I still felt cool for trying)
We then got a little lost trying to actually get to the beach, but when we got there it was super neat. I was actually at the same parallel as NYC and Philly, so it was kind of like being back at home, but only colder. There was even a sculpture that "showed" the parallel, which reminded me of when I went to England and visited the International Date Line in Greenwich. (Not me--->)
After we went to the peninsula, we headed back to their home. We went to buy dinner ingredients, so while my Host Mom was shopping, the twins and I went and took some Purikura~ ♡♥.
After we got our shopping done, we went to their house and had some of the most yummy Okonomiyaki I have had in a long time! It was the Hiroshima style (so noodles are added) and my Host Mother added kimchi to the mix, and it was SO DELICIOUS! The spiciness of the Kimchi added a whole new layer of flavor to the already flavorful Okonomiyaki, I was so surprised how much I liked it!
I can't wait to visit them again on the 18th of December, when I will be cooking German Pancakes for them.
I am taking a course at AIU called Manga Mania, and as you might have guessed... it is about Manga. So, appropriately we went to a manga museum. Pictures start at #32
Although the museum was kind of boring (all in Japanese and about an artist I did not know), the place we went to after that was soooo much fun! There was a castle called "Wonder Castle" which was basically a 4 story fun house. And boy, it was so much fun! The most scary, and thrilling attraction was the "Namahage slide" where you dropped down 1 story super fast. Really fun, but really scary to look at. (you can see pictures at 112 and 113)
Outside the castle there was also a flower and a Bonsai competition. It was super lovely to look at all the different types of Bonsai and all the flowers made the dreary day much more lovely. And then we found the playground. It drew us like magnets- I mean, what College Student can resist a playground? Like moths to a fire, we just had to play there- and boy it was so much fun!!!
On our way home I bought some of the most yummy apples I have had in a long time, so juicy and red it is almost criminal.
Halloween is not as big in Japan as I had hoped. I believe it is considered more of a children's holiday, which is silly. The school hosted a party on the 29 (Friday) and there were so many people! It was not super fun, but it was a enjoyable evening to spend dressed up as a zombie. (notice more blood and wounds? I really worked hard on it this time.) Halloween pictures start at 187
I entered the costume contest and didn't win, which was too bad. But! I think it is funny that all the contestants were foreign exchange students. I had a lot of fun with my friends, taking pictures and the like, and after the party ended a friend of mine had a small party back in his room.
However! Saturday was the super fun night! Saturday halloween pictures end at #27
In the morning I went Persimmon picking with some people from AIU. It was a lovely day, and everyone had fun- but the best part of the excursion was the Kiritanpo. Freshly made by lovely Obaasans (Grandmothers, but in this case I mean friendly old ladies), and with a little help from the foreign students, it was super delicious!
However, the evening was super fun because I went to a Japanese Club! It was my first *real* clubbing experience, and I had so much fun! My costume was a Girl Raver (a raver is someone who goes to raves- which are techno concerts where there are lots of glowsticks and lights). The DJs were not always so good, but I really enjoyed myself! My friends are great dancers and we just had such a blast. I think I danced for 6hrs straight without realizing how much time slipped by, but it was just too much fun! The club closed a little past 4am (!) and I took a taxi ride back from Akita Station to AIU, where I met up with some other friends who had just arrived and we all sat in the cafeteria drinking water and nibbling on some noodles.
All in all? An awesome weekend- but no American Halloween Candy (and absolutely nothing on Sunday [Halloween]).
So the best thing about the second day of the AIU festival was my performance, and the next best thing was the Namahage Taiko Drum performance.
So, my performance was a dance to a really old song (maybe 7-10 years old) that almost EVERY Japanese person knows: 慎吾ママ おはロック (Shingo Mama's Oha Rock)
However, here is my performance:
It was super fun to participate in the festival (even if I only embarrassed myself). But we had a couple people dance/sing along with us, including one super cute older woman. Also! My Host Mother and Sisters came and saw my performance, so the first time the daughters met me I was in a Pikachu Costume, and that was only the second time my Mother met me. モジモジ (。_。*))) [embarrassed]
After my performance (about 1pm ish) I wandered around the campus looking at all the decorations and attractions with my host family, we then talked and decided on our next meeting. After they left I took pictures of everything and saw my friends at their booths. I didn't really go to any specific events except for the dancing event (which was pretty cool), but I mostly dabbled here and there. Day 2 pictures start around #129 At the end of the day there was the closing ceremony and the Namahage Taiko drummers.
The closing ceremony featured all the awesome dances that everyone did (the best of the best) and the senior girls and boys performances. The girls had a movie, which was pretty cool, it was all about them passing/throwing stuff to each other without looking. It must have taken hours to shoot. The boys had a really fun dance performance- they did a huge pyramid with all the graduating seniors as well as some fun dance tricks.
Namahage are only found in Akita, and are kind of famous.Read more about Namahage here, and these Taiko drummers dressed up as Namahage and were AWESOME! At one point they came through the crowd and scared all the little kids- it was cute and scary at the same time! But they were such great drummers- it was so worth seeing them!
After the festival was over, there were fireworks. It was really a fun weekend and I was super sad to see it over.
Today was the first day of the AIU Festival. (Apparently all Japanese colleges have these festivals, which also double as a open campus [college tour]) There were so many different things to do, but my favorite thing was the stalls on one of the walkways. There was everything from fried Bananas to Macha (green tea) Milk to Korean foods to local produce! Everything that I tried was super yummy and cheap, majority of these stalls are run by AIU student groups (eg. Tennis Club, Korean Club, etc) with only a few outside groups running stalls. I plan on supporting these groups again tomorrow for my breakfast, lunch and dinner! There are also many rooms in the academic buildings that have been taken over by clubs to act as cafes or galleries. There was quite the variety of things offered and I enjoyed exploring them with my friends.
There is more than food being offered too, as I type this there is a student band playing covers of some famous American songs and I know that there were various other performances and activities to do as well. I did not get to go to all of these events because I was helping out at the ZOMBIE ROOM. Which was super fun, the group that ran this sent out an email asking for volunteers to help with their activity and as it turns out, only the foreign students signed up to help. So not only was it a zombie room, it was a zombie foreign room- double the scare factor. I got quite into the role and dressed to impress... or scare. The room itself was pretty plain, and was super dark with glow stick to light the path, and us zombies hid where ever we could- and proceeded to moan, groan and shriek and chase our victims. All in all, very good fun.
All things considered, it rained almost the entire day with a couple breaks in the light showers, we had a great number of people come! It was super fun seeing so many people at the campus! I will take pictures tomorrow morning of all the beautiful decorations on campus, because it is simply stunning to see what the Japanese students have been working themselves to the bone on. I need to go to bed early tonight because tomorrow I am on the stage with two friends doing a dance, which I hope to get on video.
Okay! I will try to update this blog semi often- or at least when anything major/super fun happens!
So far Japan has been good, Akita is starting to get colder (this weekend it was in the teens [Celsius] and gloomy) and some of the trees are starting to change color! I can imagine that the scenery is simply gorgeous in the fall! I will be sure to take pictures!
