This weekend was lots of fun! Saturday I met my host mother at Sakae around 4pm. I was right on time, but she had gotten the time of the parade wrong, so we only got to see the last 2 floats. I was ok with that, but she was very insistent that we were going to see more of the parade. So we went "Parade Chasing" a new activity I don't think other people engage in. We had to chase after the parade weaving and shoving through the crowds of people on the sidewalk and street. My host mother is very small and proper. She was wearing heels, it was raining, and we chased down the parade.
We went to Osu after that and wandered around watching performers for the Matsuri and browsing through all of the cute little shops and sidewalk stands. It was a lot of fun. The performers were great. There were people balancing tea cups on their noses, and rolling balls on umbrellas. There was a mime dressed in red who performed to jazz music (a personal favorite). There was even a live juke box. when I say live, I mean there was a man in a brightly decorated box who (when 200 yen was deposited) would play whatever song you requested. We drank Sake out of little wooden boxes and watched Geisha (not real geisha, just for the matsuri) stroll past. It was lots of fun.
Sunday I met my friends Ayako and Makiron at the University and we went to a Matsuri near Makiron's dorm. She lives in a dorm that is over an Obento shop, where she also works. The woman who manages the shop was really nice, and we called her Obasan (grandmother). We had a lot of really good food, played some games with a bunch of children that were there and won prizes. Then we went to a local temple and stood inside a square surrounded by scaffolding. People got onto the scafollding and threw down Mochi (rice cakes, they were wrapped in plastic). Everyone went scrambling for the Mochi and it became quite violent. It was a lot of fun though. Machiron was throwing the rice, but the rest of us ended up on the ground. Those little old ladies were quite adament about getting the Mochi and weren't opposed to pushing up down. It was a riot. Literally and firguratively. But a lot of fun!
We went to Osu after that and wandered around watching performers for the Matsuri and browsing through all of the cute little shops and sidewalk stands. It was a lot of fun. The performers were great. There were people balancing tea cups on their noses, and rolling balls on umbrellas. There was a mime dressed in red who performed to jazz music (a personal favorite). There was even a live juke box. when I say live, I mean there was a man in a brightly decorated box who (when 200 yen was deposited) would play whatever song you requested. We drank Sake out of little wooden boxes and watched Geisha (not real geisha, just for the matsuri) stroll past. It was lots of fun.
Sunday I met my friends Ayako and Makiron at the University and we went to a Matsuri near Makiron's dorm. She lives in a dorm that is over an Obento shop, where she also works. The woman who manages the shop was really nice, and we called her Obasan (grandmother). We had a lot of really good food, played some games with a bunch of children that were there and won prizes. Then we went to a local temple and stood inside a square surrounded by scaffolding. People got onto the scafollding and threw down Mochi (rice cakes, they were wrapped in plastic). Everyone went scrambling for the Mochi and it became quite violent. It was a lot of fun though. Machiron was throwing the rice, but the rest of us ended up on the ground. Those little old ladies were quite adament about getting the Mochi and weren't opposed to pushing up down. It was a riot. Literally and firguratively. But a lot of fun!
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