Jidai Matsuri (時代祭） and other somewhat related topics.

Hola,

This last Friday I skipped a class and took off for Kyoto with friends to attend the Jidai Matsuri, which turned out to be the quietest parade I have ever attended.  In Japanese, Jidai means "age", so this is literally the Festival of Ages.  What it consisted of was a huge number of volunteers walking through Kyoto to the Heian Shrine dressed in period costumes.  I think it would have been more interesting if I knew more of the history behind it.  It wasn't the greatest for taking pictures, but I'll put up a few below.


Jacky trying to see the ceremony at Heian Jinja.






Which one of these is not like the others?






AH! Foreigners! 外人！！













Relating to the Jidai Matsuri - I've finally found a period drama which isn't incredibly low budget and badly acted. It is an NHK drama about the events leading up to the Meiji restoration, and I was hooked from the opening credits.  Here is a subtitled version I found on a French website.  This is from the second season.  I would like to, if I had time, to start from the beginning in Japanese with my dictionary, but I doubt that will happen.  I can't remember the last time I actually finished watching a series.Ryoma Den can be found here.

On Saturday I went hiking near Kobe with some other exchange students. Once we found the trailhead, which in and of itself required some climbing, the hike took about two hours and was quite enjoyable. Did not get attacked by the wild boars the news devotes so much time to.


On the way up towards the trailhead, after asking for directions twice.




Halfway there!








やった！ Made it!

渡辺陽一

Now for some Japanese pop culture:

Watanabe Yoichi is a recent addition to the regular group of gei-nin who frequent Japanese television.  His trademark outfit can be seen here.

He is always introduced as "The war photographer" or "The war cameraman."  My limited understanding is that he has written a book and also maintains a popular blog about his experiences throughout the world, including covering conflict in Rwanda.

Within the last two weeks he has suddenly become a high demand figure for the type of Japanese variety show which dominates the airwaves.  He appears to be popular in part because of his distinctive speaking style, which you can see below:




Don't ask me what he's saying.  All I know is he's sharing a film which he watches often/likes.  He mentions the English conversation and says that it is an important film.  He may speak slowly, but I find his vocabulary difficult to understand.

This last weekend I went to a beautiful place in Japan and was reminded why I like Japan: Facebook Photo Album

Some catching up

It's almost been two weeks since my last post, so there is a bit more content here than usual.

School continues to shuffle along.  Last weekend my host parents' daughter (technically my host-sister, I suppose) came to visit, along with her husband.  It was refreshing to have different people in the house, especially people closer to my own age, although they are about 6 years older than I am.   Because I need to leave for class soon, here are a bunch of pictures from the last two weeks and a video I took this morning.  All the pictures were taken in the city where I live: 兵庫県の西宮市
















And a quick tour or the house:

Week 3

Unfortunately, not much to say this week in terms of my own experiences.  Went to Kobe on Saturday and Osaka-Nanba area on Sunday.  More ugly Japanese city.

Now with more Rain!

and anime stuff I don't understand.

However, on Saturday a second stranger came up and asked if I wanted to meet sometime to help with their English.  The first time was on campus, now while I was waiting at a stoplight.  I'm the only one I know who this happens to.  My theory is that it's because I'm the most stereotypical a foreigner can get: tall, blonde, big nose, etc.

Here are two random links about odd Japanese things:

 横井庄一

Gundam Rage