tanabata matsuri

Friday has come around once again, and the fewer weeks we all have remaining in Japan, the more busy we seem to become. Shiga Daigaku hosted a tanabata festival for people in the surrounding area, so of course most of the students here at the JCMU dressed in their festival going best and spent the bulk of the evening fanning themselves in the summer humidity.

We took our sweet time getting ready, doing and redoing hair over again, wrapping our yukatas the right way the wrong way someway in between, watching episodes of So You Think You Can Dance while snacking on goodies bought across the street at Lawson... We weren't in any real hurry.

But eventually we did head out to Shiga Daigaku (via taxi seeing as bicycling wearing these...contraptions, would be a little more than just difficult.) We ended up going with Lauren, a girl from down the hall at the JCMU dorms who's been here just as long as Rory, Ashley and I have. We had a great time together.

We stayed for a few hours, played charades (sort of) with some of the Japanese students, ate our complementary shaved ice (because we were wearing yukata) and took lots of pictures with Rory and his host family as well as with the kids who ended up coming from the JCMU dorm. At the end of the festival (they had food and games in tents, as well, but we were too cheap having to pay cab fare there and back to indulge any) there was a raffle for the people who stuck around until the end. Everyone got either a Hikoboushi or Orihime (the lovers that the tanabata festival celebrates) fan when they entered the festival with a number on it, and all of those numbers were in a box that two hosts drew from and announced the winners. Prizes like candels, candy, fireworks, a shaved ice machine and a giant hikonyan plushie were given out to very happy children and people our age as well, though none of us were lucky enough to win one.

During the festival there were two performances of dance done by the students of the school. Of course I recorded them for everyone's viewing pleasure~

It was exhausting being in that heat and surrounded by such high energy, but it was a fun night. Tomorrow I get to go with Rory and his host family to another festival out by his homestay where we'll get to watch fireworks! I'm very excited to be able to wear my yukata more than once, I rather like it even if the accompanying shoes are not that well fitting.. I'll be sure to report on that as well as the school field trip to Biwako on Sunday as soon as I can~