10/22/04: Kunchi and Huis Ten Bosch
Hi all!
I'm sure you're all busy with your October activities. Some folks have been asking what it's like to live here, so I posted my notes on a blog. You can add comments/questions. There are two months worth of notes, so consider yourself warned. The most recent entry is about the rice harvest. http://iversonjpn.blogspot.com
Last week we were in Nagasaki for their annual O-Kunchi festival. Kunchi is a three-day autumn festival held for Ujigamisama, the God of Nagasaki. It looked like a big street party to us. There are three large stage areas set up around the city at which each of the 10 or so towns perform an elaborate, showy presentation. Each show has something to do with Nagasaki's historical role as a Japan's gateway to the world, so the common elements are a ship on wheels, loaded with a musical band of costumed children, towed around by a band of strong men and accompanied by women in elaborate kimono. There's also dancing, music, firecrackers, drums; each one was quite a show.
The city streets are lined with food/games stalls: yakiniku, squid on a stick, roasted corn, special "kunchi" cakes (sweet bean curd in rice flour balls), fruit crepes, ice cream, okonomayaki, shooting galleries, ring toss, catch the goldfish/turtle/chick games, plus vendors selling candy, balloons, costumes, toys, and lots of fair-type junk. A guy selling fresh pineapple slices on a stick played rock, paper, scissors to give away a second piece. Eric was the only one to win.
Later in the week we went to a theme park called "Huis Ten Bosch". It's a Holland theme city complete with windmills, canels and old world European architecture. There were lots of things to see and do, with Disney-type rides in each area. Walking the cobble stone streets almost convinced me that we were in Europe, but the Japanese couldn't quite pull off the Dutch costumes.
We ate dinner on the way home at one of the "kaiten-sushi" places which has a conveyor belt bringing plates of sushi past every table. You just grab what looks good as it goes by. Each plate is color coded to indicate how much it costs (Y100, 200, or300), and they add up the empty plates at the end of the meal. A very good and inexpensive meal!
Bridget went on an overnight camping trip with her class. We got a long list of things for her to bring that took us more than a few days to translate. We were relieved they didn't ask for a tent or sleeping bag -- it turned out they stayed at a dormatory. Eric has had two class trips-- both to factories; one that makes breakfast drinks that are loaded with caffeine and sugar, the second to a fish factory that makes rolled fish snacks for convenience stores. Eric said the breakfast drink place was better than the fish place.
I'm enjoying my course and am sitting in a classroom with a bunch of 20-year olds who ask me questions about selecting their major. We're comparing business practices in Asian cultures, so it's been interesting with lots of good discussion.
Ten typhoons have made land fall in Japan this year ... an unusually high number. The last one brushed by us but caused a lot of damage in other parts of the country. The guys at Sony have given Dave a nickname that translates into something like "man who calls the storm".
I've posted pictures of both the Huis Ten Bosch and Nagasaki Kunchi Festival: http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink There are also new photos of the Iverson's in the Sept Isahaya festival album if you're looking for a laugh.
barbara
I'm sure you're all busy with your October activities. Some folks have been asking what it's like to live here, so I posted my notes on a blog. You can add comments/questions. There are two months worth of notes, so consider yourself warned. The most recent entry is about the rice harvest. http://iversonjpn.blogspot.com
Last week we were in Nagasaki for their annual O-Kunchi festival. Kunchi is a three-day autumn festival held for Ujigamisama, the God of Nagasaki. It looked like a big street party to us. There are three large stage areas set up around the city at which each of the 10 or so towns perform an elaborate, showy presentation. Each show has something to do with Nagasaki's historical role as a Japan's gateway to the world, so the common elements are a ship on wheels, loaded with a musical band of costumed children, towed around by a band of strong men and accompanied by women in elaborate kimono. There's also dancing, music, firecrackers, drums; each one was quite a show.
The city streets are lined with food/games stalls: yakiniku, squid on a stick, roasted corn, special "kunchi" cakes (sweet bean curd in rice flour balls), fruit crepes, ice cream, okonomayaki, shooting galleries, ring toss, catch the goldfish/turtle/chick games, plus vendors selling candy, balloons, costumes, toys, and lots of fair-type junk. A guy selling fresh pineapple slices on a stick played rock, paper, scissors to give away a second piece. Eric was the only one to win.
Later in the week we went to a theme park called "Huis Ten Bosch". It's a Holland theme city complete with windmills, canels and old world European architecture. There were lots of things to see and do, with Disney-type rides in each area. Walking the cobble stone streets almost convinced me that we were in Europe, but the Japanese couldn't quite pull off the Dutch costumes.
We ate dinner on the way home at one of the "kaiten-sushi" places which has a conveyor belt bringing plates of sushi past every table. You just grab what looks good as it goes by. Each plate is color coded to indicate how much it costs (Y100, 200, or300), and they add up the empty plates at the end of the meal. A very good and inexpensive meal!
Bridget went on an overnight camping trip with her class. We got a long list of things for her to bring that took us more than a few days to translate. We were relieved they didn't ask for a tent or sleeping bag -- it turned out they stayed at a dormatory. Eric has had two class trips-- both to factories; one that makes breakfast drinks that are loaded with caffeine and sugar, the second to a fish factory that makes rolled fish snacks for convenience stores. Eric said the breakfast drink place was better than the fish place.
I'm enjoying my course and am sitting in a classroom with a bunch of 20-year olds who ask me questions about selecting their major. We're comparing business practices in Asian cultures, so it's been interesting with lots of good discussion.
Ten typhoons have made land fall in Japan this year ... an unusually high number. The last one brushed by us but caused a lot of damage in other parts of the country. The guys at Sony have given Dave a nickname that translates into something like "man who calls the storm".
I've posted pictures of both the Huis Ten Bosch and Nagasaki Kunchi Festival: http://photos.yahoo.com/~iverlink There are also new photos of the Iverson's in the Sept Isahaya festival album if you're looking for a laugh.
barbara
posted by Barbara Meehan Iverson at 3:47 AM
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