Culture tip #17: Fireworks

Summertime in Japan is fireworks time. After the rainy season companies, towns and cities, and individuals put on enormous fireworks festivals. People flock to them wearing beautiful yukata and drink outside. The fireworks in Kanazawa are consistently better than the biggest displays I've seen in Canada -- or anywhere else for that matter. So without further ado, I'll let you get to the show.








In the Edo period, the two main families who made fireworks were the Tamaya and the Kagiya. So when things heat up, people still shout 'tamaya' and 'kagiya' in response.

summer festivals

Summer is full of festivities in Japan. These pictures come from the Hyakuman Goku Matsuri, the parade celebrating when Lord Maeda entered Kanazawa city the first time. People watch the re-enactment of Samurai walking through the gates and to the castle. Then there is a BIG dance in the main street of the city.

The streets are packed with dancing people. Businesses have their own uniforms, but anyone can join in.



There are many drummers, most of them are ripped Japanese men playing enormous taiko drums, but there are some girls wearing kimonos who also play them...Then there is this girl!

Of course, with any parade there are food and game stalls that follow. The whole park is lined with there stores (most of them apparently run by the lowest level yakuza).
The group of uniformed girls is almost stereotypical Japan.

This is how is looks as you walk through the stalls. There are games, food, toys...video games (This is Japan, after all!)


Here's a traditional game people play. I guess, it's the Japanese 'bobbing for apples'.

They have absolutely every kind of food from Takoyaki...

...to choco-bananas.

But the best part of summer to me, is the people sitting around in yukata.

a series of vending machine incidents

I discovered some unique vending machines last month. Here are the three I caught on camera before they could run away.

In Japan there are seriously too many drink vending machines. Like you can basically stop your car on the highway and buy a tea in the middle of nowhere. So I was pleasantly surprised when I finally found a snack vending machine. But where the Coke™ machine has a robot voice that talks to you and the other vending machines come with a TV screen, and Infra-red payment systems, this potato machine was...er, pretty bland.

This one is pretty decent (for not being a drinks machine). In fact, I saw this the first day and nearly keeled over when I realised it sold ramen, and oden, a kind of Japanese stew. I was like: "This is the perfect vending machine for me!" Then the next time I walk by it they added Aquarius, my all time favourite drink. How awesome it that? A complete meal from a machine?! All for less than $4!

Ok! This one is just weird. Bras? Strapless bras?! Is that for when women forget to wear one? Or when they all-of-a-sudden regret wearing that skimpy nightgown with the regular street bra with the straps? Still blows my mind. But only ¥2000! That`s a deal, right?

No way! LESS than ¥2000! That`s a steal!!!

But seriously, wouldn`t it be a little embarrassing for every passerby to see you select your cup size?

Sakura

'Hanami' is the custom of going cherry blossom viewing. This is an important part of all Japanese people's lives. The cherry blossoms are so fragile and they arrive spontaneously and disappear within a week or two. During this time schools, businesses and friends have cherry blossom viewing parties. It is against the backdrop of the pale pink sakura that people meet their new schoolmates, co-workers, as well as say goodbye to old friends. Although they fall off the trees in a matter of days, the beauty of the blossoms never fade. I mean, I have seen the same scene for 3 years now and I have never gotten sick of it. I still take the same pictures every year! And you may never be able to show the true beauty in a photograph, but still somehow you can't stop taking pictures. This year I took some new pictures, as well as some of the same ones as before. And I too have said goodbye to many students under the pink trees. (Bye bye Chizuko! I'll miss you!)

Along one of the many canals in Kanazawa. I think this one used to be part of the castle moat.

This is the first tree to open in Kanazawa every year. It is part of a private garden in of an old samurai house.

An old favourite.

Sunset at the castle

Night time in the park looks like you are walking through the milky way, especially if the blossoms are reflected in the black water.

Relaxing along the Sai river. Some pigeons were also enjoying the cherry blossoms.

A road with a sakura canopy.

Kanazawa city

My mom is visiting this week so I have very little time to blog, but I thought I would post some pictures of the city I took recently.

Kanazawa station. It's designed in the shape of a shrine. There is a very modern looking torii gate outside of it.

A sunset in Korinbo, one of the main intersections of the city.

Random city scape I took while walking around the city.

You know in Canada, the cops would bust a place like this pretty quick. But maybe they find it hard to read the Roman letters or something, because this place has been here for a while.

liminal air

One of the best places to go in Kanazawa is the 21st Century Contemporary Art Museum. Recently they have installed something called "Liminal Air" in a square, glass room. It's basically different lengths of string hanging from the ceiling. The whole effect is truly magical. Here are the pictures.



Wondering around in the fog, you would encounter kids whirling around your legs like little woodland creatures.



But it was just as much fun for the adults.

This is what it looks like inside. Me looking down at my slippers.

why winter is nice

Well, I've become ridiculously busy recently. My week starts with a long, but peaceful train ride into the middle of nowhere. Actually, the train runs next to the mountains along the coast. It then crosses the vast rice paddies in a valley. It's one of the older trains in Japan—something you don't see very often anymore. The final destination is a town called Tsurugi, which has a massive high-tech university just outside it. It's the kind of place that generates the newest ideas and technology. My class is in the building where ethical debate on artificial intelligence and intellectual property rights occurs.

Anyways, I wanted to relay this story to you all. it has recently started snowing in Kanazawa. Beautiful, thick snowflakes falling slowly. Winter here is really great, not only because the city really shows of its 'shibui' flavour. (Shibui means tasteful, sober, or austere). On snowy days, Kanazawa's samurai district probably looks much like it did 200 years ago. The snow resting on the traditional, black tile roofs, look so exotic. The other (much tastier reason) why winter is good is that the fish get fatty to protect from the cold. Winter is the time of feasting, nabe, crab, and great sashimi.

Recently, I walked through the market, always congested with shoppers trying to get the best deals on seasonal fish and peach-coloured crab. The main intersection is particularly packed with old men yelling out 'irrashai!' and pedalling their goods. When I walked through there that day, for some reason, everyone moved away. I stubbornly kept walking and found myself staring the biggest, ugliest fish in the contorted eye. It was about 1.5 meters in diameter, and looked more like a 'real fish' got steam-rolled than that it was actually born so ugly. I remember seeing the fish in the Osaka Aquarium, where they have to put a net around the glass so that it doesn't hurt itself by continually running into the glass. (So, I guess it's stupid as well as ugly. Great combo, God! Where you drunk the day you made that thing?!) Anyways, despite being ugly and stupid, the fish has a nice name (in English): Sunfish...The japanese name, 'Mambo', is more appropriate.

The people i talked to have never eaten it. It's very rare, and in some places a delicacy. But would you really want to eat such a hideously ugly thing?

tea ceremony

On Sunday I went to a tea ceremony. I'm consedering either a calligraphy or tea ceremony class for the new year. The teacher was a small, grey-haired lady in a beautiful black and red kimono, who spoke proudly of zen, the seasons, and Japanese culture. She seemed very nice and even tried to speak English a little bit. We communicated very well, stumbling only on ceremonial words, names for certain tools, and old Japanese words. But all in all, it was a beautiful experience.

I sat Japanese style for about an hour and couldn't feel my legs by the end. I didn't even try to stand up because that certainly would have been impossible. But I'm getting better at sitting seiza style. When I got here it was hard to sit on my knees for more than 15 minutes.

The sensei explained that tea ceremony was a kind of past time for the ancient Japanese people. They didn't have TV or radio so they used to sit together and have tea. Here's what makes this different from English tea:

The room is small, there's a hanging scroll on which a beautiful haiku is written about the season. (In this case "Slide open the door to see blowing leaves".) You can hear the rain in the garden all around, and the smell is one of incense burning beneath the pot of water. The cups are themed to match the red leaves of fall, the migrating birds, and the rice harvest. Everything is a perfect microcosm of nature. Like being in a tea ceremony you feel at once part of nature and outside it. It may be the perfect zen paradox. The ceremony with all it's rules, creating the spontaneous sensation of the natural world.

It was beautiful.

Sorry no pictures...

calligraphy and the park

I haven't done any shuji for a long time, but this weekend I had some experienced help, so I tried again. I've been studying kanji pretty much constantly since I decided to take the test, so this was a way to reacquaint myself with it. Last week I hated it...despised it, even. My food started tasting like Kanji...I guess I had an overload. But this weekend writing the characters with a brush felt really good. Really refreshing. I focused on the strokes, the look and not the meaning. It didn`t matter if I forgot the onyomi or the kunyomi, all that mattered was if it looked beautiful. The character in the corner means 'me'.

Although the weather was bad, I took a walk in the park. The leaves didn't change so much...maybe I missed it. Or maybe there are too many evergreens. I'm not sure.

What was beautiful was the pyramid shapes they make to hold up the trees in the heavy snow. It's characteristic of this area. I love the shape!

a walk around Nagamachi

While walking around Nagamachi, the neighbourhood around my house, I saw some persimmons hanging over an old samurai wall.

The area is usually filled with tourists, but that day it was serenely quiet. It was as if I stepped back 200 years...Except, I had my cell phone out to snap a pic of this delicious-looking fruit. (Actually, I never heard of persimmons until I came here)

Lucky I had my phone out and on camera mode, because as I crossed the canal. A giant heron swooped down and slowly walked under the bridge I was standing on to search for fish.

And he caught one!!! Unbelievable! He speared it with his beak. It was an interesting walk through Nagamachi.

something fishy

The particular sect of Buddhism that was historically practiced in Kanazawa was fascinated with the 6 aesthetic virtues. Their values were so strong that the Togugawa general fell in love with it and allowed a kind of self rule, instead of enforcing the Edo government's law. Still to this day you will see art all over the city.

Two weeks a year there are special art weeks in Kanazawa. In these weeks artist take to the city and set up fantastic installations everywhere. The big ones are well known locations, but more likely you will just be walking around and discover them.

While walking home, I saw these fish swimming in the canal.
One fish! Two fish!

Red fish! Blue fish!

Shamisen on gold

These are pictures of Remi and Akiko`s shamisen concert. It was pretty cool!
Akiko, Yoda, and Remi.


Remi rocking it out!

They served a cup of tea with the rising sun in it.