AIU Festival

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.

Things I want to do while in Japan (in no particular order)

1. Participate in the Coming of Age Ceremony in January
2. Visit Ise Shrine
3. Go to the Hokkaido Snow Festival in Feburary
4. Go to Okinawa
5. Go to Osaka
6. Go to a concert in Japan
7. Go to Shibuya
8. Go to Tokyo Disney
9. Go to a Maid Cafe/ other types of Cafe's
10. Stay/Visit an onsen town and stay in a ryokan
11. See a Takurazuka show
12. See the Ghibli Museum
13. See the Gion Matsuri in Kyoto
14. See the the Tohoku Sandai Matsuri (Three Great Festivals of the Tohoku Region) [Akita's Kanto, Sendai's Tanabata, and Aomori's Nebuta Festival]
15. Go on a boat trip

Blog start!

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!

Anyways that's all for now!

My First Matsuri (festival)

Okay. My first Matsuri was in Oomagari and it was a 花火Hanabi (fireworks, lit. flower fire). This Hanabi is one of the biggest in Japan and it was so awesome!! (a small description is here 3rd one)

Basically there were Day fireworks that had a explosion but also released colored powder into the air that then fell down, it was super pretty. The video below shows red powder, but there was also yellow, blue, and black as well as other colors too.



And then when night fell... whoo boy! There were fireworks everywhere! There were individual fireworks [usually sets of 3] that were HUGE and amazing! Then there are shows that were set to music. I saw everything from Smiley faces to Christmas trees! Super awesome!In the video below you can hear the announcement that went off before each person's fireworks- it tells you where they are from, their name, and I believe the title of their 'show'. Anyways- they are HUGE!

5 Things I Yearn To Do In Japan (class assignment)

• Participate in the Coming of Age Ceremony
• Visit Ise Shrine
• Go to the Hokkaido Winter Festival
• Visit a Onsen Town
• Go to a bunch of different Matsuris!

The first thing has yet to be solidified, but I will have to beg various people to let me do this. But if I can do this, it will be a life long wish completed.

Ise Shrine is a very important shrine (dedicated to Amaterasu) and I feel like if I want to know more about Shinto then this is a good place to start. Also, it is in a part of Japan I have never been to before

I would also be fulfilling a life long dream (this one is older then the coming of age ceremony) if I go to the Hokkaido Winter Festival. Let me just put out there that I LOVE SNOW- and since I am almost a jump away from Hokkaido, I cannot see this not happening.

I also enjoy Onsens, so when I heard from a friend that she went to a onsen town I knew I wanted to go to one. Luckily there are also a few of these near Akita.

I want to go to all types of Matsuri's when in Japan. I want to see as many as I can.


[This is just the start of my list- last year I started writing down all the things I wanted to do in Japan, they range from going to a Maid Cafe to visiting art museums.]

Akita, Japan - a history (Class assignment)

Akita is located in upper Honshū, and is facing the Sea of Japan. It is a well known prefecture for its famous Kantō festival (the lanterns on poles) , the Omagari Fireworks, Namahage Festival (chasing out demons from homes) , and the Yokote Kamakura Festivals (building igloos!) and around 80 other festivals offered around the year. Because it is in the countryside, Akita is also famous for its sake brewing and rice.

Akita is famous for its beautiful women, as we know at Ursinus! Akita bijin (秋田[Akita]美人[beautiful people]),, are renown for their white skin, rounded faces and high voices. I am not kidding about this- I have a good friend who told me about how beautiful Akita women are supposed to be, and although I did not believe him at first, I do now.

Mizenko Sensei! Did you know that Ono no Komachi is said to have been born in Akita prefecture?

Akita was originally home to the Ezo tribes of Japan, but they were defeated in 658 and then started the settlement of Akita city and eventually the prefecture. Although the name was changed from Akita under the Tokugawa Shogunate's rule, it reverted back to its original name after the rule ended.


^ Related video (Akita version!)