Matsuri upon matsuri

Japanese summers are filled with festivals, or matsuri, which were abundant in Kumamoto this year like always. In preparation, I went shopping for my first yukata with Billy, a wonderful German girl living here who has an amazing eye for style and frequently wears yukata or kimono.

She took both Kohei and I to a little store she frequently volunteers at in the middle of nowhere, and what a gold mine. I’m super lucky in the sense I’m not particularly tall, the only struggle is that sometimes my ass ruins the flow of the yukata and screws up the pattern. Billy was such an asset; she helped me find not only two yukatas, with obi and all of the other accessories, but I found the most beautiful furisode (kimono with long sleeves) that I’ll be able to wear once it gets cooler.

All of this came to ¥13,000 which is an absolute steal, as some yukata alone cost that much. Kohei got even more of a bargain, his yukata was only ¥500. I’m going to start taking lessons with Billy, in the hope one day I’ll be able to dress myself and even continue wearing them once I go home.

The first chance I got to wear my own yukata was at Sheridan’s junior high schools summer festival. It was super cute, with lots of food stalls, so many kids dressed in their own yukatas, and some dancing that Sheridan and I of course joined in on. My favourite part was the banana auction, which I got overly excited about and won a bunch of about 12 for the most ridiculous price. I practically turned into one by the end of the week I ate that many.


I don’t know what gave Sheridan’s school such high status, but special guest of the evening was beloved Kumamon. I’m not sure who was more excited, the children, or Sheridan who was practically hyperventilating next to me.

Sadly, I couldn’t go to my own school’s summer festival because something else even more exciting was thrown my way. Last year, on the day I moved into my apartment, was the Hinokuni Matsuri. It’s probably the biggest festival in the year for Kumamoto, and I remembered getting drunk off Strong Zeros while watching hundreds of people dance in a parade and dancing along with them. 

This year, I got the chance to perform the otemoyan dance myself, along with Sheridan, Kohei, Olivia, Mitra and Bilal. It was so much fun, and not even the impending typhoon headed our way was going to stop us dancing for two hours. Best part of the night? Kumamon danced with us during the parade.

Onsen-ning in Oita

Since we would be away from each other on both of our birthdays, Kohei and I decided to go on a little road trip to Oita. From the beginning, I decided that Oita is probably one of the most beautiful prefectures I’ve been to so far. It could have just been the timing, but the lush green mountains and rice paddies were in abundance. 

I’ve never seen so many rice paddies in my life, and I’ll give the farmers credit, they’re very innovative using space. By that, I mean even small areas between the forks in roads were growing rice.

I got a chance to eat some local delicacies, with Kohei taking me to a hidden local joint for some toriten, tempura style chicken popular in the prefecture, before heading to get a special type of pudding cooked using the steam from the local onsen. Creamiest pudding I’ve ever eaten, and the views weren’t bad either.

The Hells of Beppu were beautiful, and wonderfully hell-ish in the heat, but being able to stop at a footbath and cool down was delightful. Kohei almost fell head first into a lily pond too, not that I tried to help or gave him any sympathy. I think he was actually a bit shocked at my true colours coming out when I was instead crying with laughter.

I’ll tell you what the highlight of the drive through Beppu was though. Stumbling across a Jurassic Park themed love hotel that I’ve vowed to return to.

I’ve always wanted to stay at a ryokan, and the experience is one that everyone should have at least once. Upon our arrival at the little hot spring town of Yunohira, we were greeted with sounds of the nearby river, and a cobbled street reminiscent of many years ago. After checking in to our beautiful little tatami room, we went for a little wander (beer in hand of course), then both dressed in yukata and headed for dinner, a rather varied array of tsukemono.

After dinner, we took a little stroll down the street, by which time was lit up by the most beautiful red glow from the lanterns. It truly felt like I’d been transported back in time. Later we headed to the private outdoor onsen, which was so relaxing and an amazing place to clear your head, even if it was just too bloody hot at times. We even got to take another bath the next morning after breakfast, and now I really wish I lived close enough to a hot spring to take a dip every day.

The next day we took a drive to Yufuin, visited the famous floral village and had a mooch around all the little stores. On the way home, Kohei agreed to take me to Sanrio Harmonyland, earning himself some major brownie points. It’s definitely a family theme park, with Kohei and I being the only people there without children (I guess you could say he was chaperoning one of his own all day). I actually really enjoyed myself though, with the simplicity of the ferris wheel, carousel, little teacups and the boat ride adding to the chill vibe of the weekend. I even got to meet Hello Kitty herself, which has been more than a little overdue!

 

Driving home Kohei took me on a little detour to his childhood town, around to his high school and some other spots. We didn’t have time to really explore, but I realised how much of an inaka (countryside) boy he is at heart, especially when he told me as a kid he’d catch frogs near the rice paddies. My heart melted at the thought, and I honestly can’t wait to get a chance to go back to Kanda and have him take me to all of his favourite spots, including his Grandad’s little farm. Wish me luck on that one, I’m sure I’ll end up kitted out harvesting some in-season fruit when I next go.

Living & breathing Japanese (literally, I was on a homestay).

I am extremely grateful to have been involved in a homestay during my time in Kyoto, which took place during my third week of the exchange. My family consisted of my host parents, and two daughters, Miki and Asuka. They also had a pet ferret called Ponta, but don't even get me started on my hatred for that thing. I'm not a fan of being targeted, constantly bitten on the ankles, and even having it break into my room and get INSIDE my pillow case.

It was obviously meant to be, as there were numerous Hello Kitty things in the house, and my room (a small guest room downstairs with a futon) came complete with Hello Kitty curtains. 

I'll always remember how the first thing my family asked me was if I got car sick, and with good reason too, I think my host father fancied himself as a bit of a boy racer down the small Kyoto side streets. My family were super cute, as they struggled with pronouncing my name, like most Japanese people do. Instead, I acquired the nickname of "keito". This was my favourite thing because whenever my host mother would run a bath, she'd shout that to get my attention from upstairs.
Somehow, through a lack of me paying proper attention, I even ended up cooking lasagne for the family one evening because they wanted to experience both my cooking, and some western food. Afterwards, Miki was feeling super sleepy so I taught her the phrase "food coma", which she absolutely loved!

Asuka was studying English for her university entrance exams, so we really helped each other develop ways to remember certain things in our other languages. She would always get confused over her left and right, so I taught her the simple trick of looking at her hands to find the “L”. It was so adorable to see how happy she was after I'd taught her such a simple thing, and needless to say, I trusted her directions a lot more from that point on.
Most evenings after dinner seemed to be the time when my host family would socialise. It often ended up with me telling them about random things they wanted to know about England. One evening, I even spent almost two hours trying to teach my host mother how to say "the earth is round" without making her r's sound like w's. It ended up with me making her practically growl to get the noise out, much to Miki and Asuka's amusement. 
Another evening, there was a discussion about my dislike of heated Japanese toilet seats, which they couldn't understand my logic of it feeling like someone has just been sat on it before you. Also note to self, never, ever try to explain the concept of a Yorkshire pudding to anyone in Japanese, it's not going to go well!

My confidence in speaking Japanese has come on leaps and bounds, proven by the fact we had to give a speech about our experiences to fellow classmates at the end of the exchange. On the first day, I was put off by just introducing myself in the language to people I knew had a greater ability, but by the end I was much more confident in my own ability. I know this is definitely down to being involved in a homestay, and even though sometimes I had no clue what my host parents were saying to me, I managed to find ways around this and be able to wing it.

In Kyoto we saw so many people dressed in kimonos and yukata, and one evening we even got a chance to wear yukata ourselves at a festival on campus. There was also a Hawaiian themed DJ night going on, which I can only describe as if the SU was more tame, had a cream carpet and closed at 8:30. What a random experience that was!
Aside from my time with my host family, I made a trip to Osaka to try the famous okonomiyaki and visit Dontonboori, where I took an obligatory photo with the iconic Glico sign. KUFS also organised us to experience a calligraphy session and a tea ceremony, which was a great insight into traditional Japanese life.
Our final day involved a ceremony and leaving party, which consisted of a lot of picture taking, goodbyes and also a nice little certificate saying I'd successfully completed the programme. We ended our final night by visiting Osaka for a firework display along the river during the Tenjin Matsuri.

I don’t think I’ve taken as many photographs as I have during these past three weeks, and yes, I have been that tourist taking pictures of trees. You could live in Kyoto all of your life and still have only just scratched the surface, and I really hope I get the opportunity to go back some day!