Integral part of Japanese culture

PURIKURA!!!

So, you know in America, sometimes they have those photo booths where you can go in and you get like a strip of 4 of 5 photos with silly poses.  Well, in Japan they have a way more awesome version of that (yeah...way more awesome!)  You can choose different backgrounds, you can adjust the tone of your skin..aka... Japanese girls want to look whiter so they can do that... I have no issues with looking white, and in fact, if we don't darken it a bit, I fade into nothingness due to my extreme paleness.  Sometimes there are even themed purikura booths like Hello Kitty or Kamen Rider.  Then, after you take the pictures, you can write cute messages on them or give your friends funny hats or make the picture "kirakira" (sparkly?  not sure how to translate that).  You can also choose to send the pictures to your cell phone in addition to having them printed.  I find purikura to be quite fun, and so, I share with you some recent purikura!  Its so fun!  If you ever do come to Japan (regardless of my being here) please go to a game center and take purikura. Did I mention that it is really fun?

a funny story

So... a funny story from last week. These stories are the reason that I love being in Japan and interacting with students. I am going to do my best to put it in writing, but, sometime, skype me and ask me about it. The out loud version is much, much better. When I write out her words, I am going to write them how she pronounced them, so that is why the spelling is funny.

Anyway, last friday, I was in the English office working on something for a lesson and two 3rd year students came in. They are both good kids, but one of them specifically is really outgoing and absolutely hysterical! Her English is not great, but her personality makes up for it. Japan needs more people with her kind of personality.

K...so she randomly asks me:

"Elissa, what is 'supaa hehro?" (thats heh like heh heh heh as if your were chuckling)
Me: "What? Super hello? Well, there's normal hello (I waved casually) and then there's SUPER HELLO (I put both my arms up and waved with a big smile)."
"No, no no...supaa...um...here, look at this towel, Elissa!"
(she shows me a towel that says Super HERO)
Me: "OHHH Super HERO!! It's the same in Japanese...hee-row!"
"OH!!! Hero! Like Spiderman, or Superman, or Kamen Rider?"
Me: "Yes!!"

Hiroi kawa Matsuri

This was a small festival in which the goal is to catch the fish that are released in the river with your hands or with nets, or with any method you choose. So, if you missed that, the people in charge of the festival blocked off a portion of the river so that water could still run through it, but fish could not get out, and then they released fish into the river. Then kids (and some adults!) went in and caught them. Then they gutted and salted the fish and then tossed them on the grill. that was the main purpose of the festival. (side note... even though the fish were gutted, when they were put on the grill... they would MOVE!)

Why were we there? The people planning it asked Alaina if she would do some sort of international event too. So, we took s'more supplies, chocolate chip cookie bars and hummus and set up a small international table. Included in our international activities were water balloons! It was crazy...apparently they really do not do water balloons here, so it was hysterical to watch even the adults being all excited (albeit drunk) over throwing water balloons at each other.　Also, there were little boys who would take like 4 balloons at once and just drop them to watch them pop. haha...cute, but slightly annoying considering we had a relatively limited supply of water balloons. the s'mores went over very well as did everything, really, but the complaint from Japanese people about American sweets is that they are too sweet. See, from my point of view, Japanese ones are not sweet enough. They frost all cakes with like whipped cream and the cake itself is more fluffy and not as sweet.

Anyway, I got sidetracked...

The best part of my day? When one of the old guys asked me if I wanted some sake as a prize for entering the "conch blowing contest" (hah) and I said yes and he gave me a beer cup FULL of sake. Think: like red plastic party cup size... maybe 16oz? FULL. That was a lot of sake. I mixed it with orange juice. and then at one point this cute little girl asked me what I was drinking (she probably wanted a sip) and I told her it was "an adult drink." hahaha and then her dad was standing there and was like "oh cocktail??" hahahahaha. His English was really good, surprisingly, but I guess he then said that he spent a lot of time on a base and learned English.

Also, contrary to the name... the river we were at was quite small. It was a very cute festival. It was funny as we were following the people to get there and they turned off the road down one of the teensy access roads that goes between the rice fields. Then, they directed Kim to park IN the rice field. Good thing we followed them, because there is no way we would have figured out where to turn or park.

Ok, I think that is all for the Hiroi Kawa matsuri.

Here are some pictures! I do love pictures!

Turning into... rice fields?

Little joke. It was all fine until they took my fake watermelon and were going to pretend it was a real watermelon for the kids to smash.

Water balloons galore!

Beautiful view. I never tire of these.

Everyone in the river!!

Kim, Crystal, Mitzi and s'more stuffs!!

Freshest fish you could possibly eat.

Playing with water balloons!

Japan version of pinata. With a watermelon. delicious!

Never-ending rice.