Shiny Shrines

~Hi everyone! Just one more week to go over here, and then it's Obon, a week-long holiday/festival (yes, another festival). Over the coming week, I'll be sharing the many pictures and videos I took of Nagaoka's 100th Anniversary festival and the fireworks. As promised, here are the remaining pictures from the portable shrine parade:

^ See the kid at left-center? He was ecstatic to be the center of attention. Or at least, he thought he was the center of attention. I think more people were looking at the girls behind him.

^ Perhaps the most impressive shrine in the entire parade, with many lanterns attached to the top. Although I can't read the kanji, they were nevertheless impressive:

The lower part of the shrine had illuminated artwork on each side, which was very beautiful. Here are some closeup images:

There were hundreds of people holding the shrines up and moving up and down the street. Each "shrine group" had a number of support personnel attached to it:

^ Behind each shrine was a cart carrying ice and drinks. By "drinks", I of course mean beer, or biru in Japanese (a phonetic rendering of the word 'beer').

^ The Japanese obsession with cleanliness extends to trash disposal (more on that in a later post), so each beer-wagon was followed by a garbage cart. How efficient.

The next day, there was yet another portable shrine parade during the daytime festivities. Here's a picture that I am quite pleased with:

Below is a short video clip of the day parade in action. [ Mom, you have to CLICK on the "blurry picture" to make the video play! ]



That's all for now. If I have time tomorrow, I'll post some fireworks pictures! ~Oyasumi.

Nagaoka Festival, Day 1

~"Nagaokans sure know how to party," was the thought that continually ran through my mind today as I participated in the first day of the four-day festival marking Nagaoka's 100th anniversary as a city. The main street of Nagaoka was crammed with people as the evening began and the entertainment began. The first entertainment was a taiko drum performance by several dozen drummers:

^ Very impressive. My whole body was vibrating from their drumming! They are true Taiko Drum Masters.

^ There was also this strange wheeled ship. I'm not sure what's up with that.

My task, as those of you who've been reading know, was to perform a set of dances along with several dozen other people from the Civics Center. The dancing went on for *much* longer than I thought it would, and I was completely exhausted by the end. Still, it was a blast! Because I was participating at the time, I didn't take pictures. A friend of mine did, however, so you'll be able to see them (and laugh at me) in due time.

After I recovered from 90 minutes of constant movement, I checked out the rest of the festival. Remember the portable shrine that was to be carried around? I found that there was not merely one, but at least eight of them, carried around by hundreds of people! It was very impressive, and I did manage to take a few pictures for you:

^A highly reflective portable shrine

^ A similar design, with clearly ecstatic onlookers

As you can see, I'm not yet very good at taking pictures at night and using the flash. This is good practice for me! Anyway, I'm exhausted at the moment and once again have to get up early, so there will be more for you to goggle at tomorrow. Also, tomorrow is the first of three days of fireworks. Joy! ~Oyasumi.

Signs and Shrines

~Just one more day until the festival begins! Tomorrow is the parade down the main street of Nagaoka, where I'll be dancing the "Nagaoka Jinku" (Samurai Dance) and the "Nagaoka Hanabi" (Fireworks Dance, which you might remember). The parade is centered around a portable shrine, which is currently in the Civics Center. Here's what it looks like:

^ The portable shrine is designed to be carried on the shoulders by several people. I have no idea how heavy it is, but it looks very delicate to me. Can you see the multiple torii gates on shrine? This object is a miniature shinto shrine, just like the ones that are all over Nagaoka and Japan.

^From the front. I think it's refreshing that the Japanese allow everyone to openly view their religious items. Although the shape of the portable shrine does remind me of a certain dangerous box.

Here's a closeup of the top of the portable shrine:

^ I think this bird is a phoenix, the symbol of the fireworks show (and the fireworks grand finale, the Phoenix Firework). I like how the bird's head is the only color that's not gold or red on the entire shrine.

To cool off from the hot, humid weather here in Japan, I went back to Yukuzan Park for a swim in the public pools there:

^The admission was only 400 yen (about $3.50), and this gave me access to four pools, including three outdoor pools of varying depths and a heated indoor pool. Do you see the huge four-level diving platform on the right? Yesterday, there was a swimming tournament here, and they monopolized the pool. This may sound familiar to anyone who uses the Wyndfall-Cambridge Pool (or whatever they're calling it now) in North Carolina.

^ An interesting sculpture near the pool entrance. I think it's a woman doing a backstroke. Or maybe someone just shoved her over a cliff.

The pool area had many safety signs, several of which I found unusual, to say the least:

^ This chart shows the depths of the main pool; unlike most pools in America, pools in Japan are deeper in the center and less deep at both ends. Note the guy in the middle who is drowning. Game over, man!

^ This sign shows the proper procedure to go in the pool. First, rinse yourself off on the outdoor shower. Then, enjoy yourself in a tiny pool while you grin insanely. This will give you strength-enhancing superpowers when you leave the pool. The red katakana reads, "Coin Locker", which is where you put your belongings.

The parade is tomorrow, so I need to get some rest. ~Oyasumi!

Juice Me!

~The big festival in Nagaoka begins in just two days, and I'm really looking forward to it. While riding my bike across one of Nagaoka's four bridges, I saw this:


^Barges have been secured to the riverbanks in preparation for the fireworks. When the time comes, pyrotechnicians will blast of fireworks with names like "Super Vesuvius Grand Star Mine" from these barges, where they will explode over the river. Presumably, it there's some kind of accident and the massive fireworks explode prematurely, the position of these boats in the river will prevent Nagaoka from burning down (for the third time).

^ I also took this picture from the bridge. Aside from the pretty mountain sunset, you can see that mysterious mountaintop tower on the right. It seems to have some kind of window in the side. I wonder what it's for. Perhaps it's a shiro ( 城 ), which means castle in English. You have to be careful when saying this, because emphasizing the first syllable gives you SHI-ro, which is the color white; to say castle, put the emphasis on the 'ro', for shi-RO.

If you want to say the name of a specific castle, such as Okayama Castle, you can just attach '-jo' to the end of the location, such as Nagaoka-jo. Why? I have no clue.

Anyway, here's some Japanglish. I'm telling you, it's everywhere!

^ Text reads "We are juice boys! A boy and a bear like juice. A boy drinks orange juice and a bear drinks apple juice every day. A sweet, delicious juice is a source of vigor."

Well, now I know what to do if I ever need some vigor! Today in class I learned how to tell time in Japanese, and seeing as how it's almost ju-ni-ji gogo (12 in the evening) and I'm exhausted from the final dance practice today, I'd better get to bed. Or maybe I'll just drink some juice...
~Oyasumi.