Mikoshi Festival, Sumo Nabe and Karuizawa Trip

If theres one situation I never in my life thought I would find myself in, it definitely includes the following: Walking down a street in Japan following a sumo wrestler who is carrying the groceries he's about to cook, be consumed as my dinner, and hes dressed in full sumo garb. And, people are stopping to stare. Everywhere. Well, this reality was one of life's great surprises last Friday night!

One of my fellow English teachers walked into school one day last week, declaring to the 4 women teachers, "ladies, we're going on a go-kon." "A what??" (that's me talking there.) "A group Japanese date." Hannah and her male Japanese friend Kei decided to organize a gokon (also known as a konpa), a typical way that many Japanese people meet their significant others. (Not that I'm hinting at anything with mr. I don't speak English sumo!) For Japan, where people don't usually speak with strangers, this seems a very appropriate structure for the dating scene. So, we had 4 foreigners, and 3 English speaking Japaneses guys, with Kei on a search to find a 4th friend who spoke some English. Later that day we're again in the teachers room when Hannah's phone peeps, only to find a message of, "Found #4 guy. Professional sumo wrestler. No English. He will cook." You can only imagine the laughter.

A week later the 4 of us get out of a train in the heart of Tokyo and in the distance see a sumo wrestler, and honestly my initial reaction was that I was looking at someone advertising a restaurant. (They do that! Have people dressed up in traditional Japanese clothes, trying to lure you inside.) Well, not quite, he was there to pick us up (not literally... tho, he probably could have!) It really was more of a dinner party than anything else, with mr. sumo cooking for the rest of us. He made Nabe, which is a Japanese stew, only this was an especially special sumo nabe called Chanko. It should be called Chunky... as the purpose is to make you big and strong and sumo! Each person was given a bowl and a raw egg. We cracked the egg into the bowl, and the meat/tofu/ veggies in the stew were poured on top. The extra broth was put on an electric stove in the middle of the table, as more meat was constantly being put inside. So, I was basically eating meat and tofu dipped in raw egg. Surprisingly, not bad (all of you weird trendy people who think raw fish is normal have no right to judge!) The sumo was really pretty shy, had a very innocent and peaceful aura, which we were all very surprised about. Although it was really a dinner party, I'd argue that I have full rights to say I've been on a date with a sumo wrestler!

I've really appreciated Golden Week, which is the longest holiday the average Japanese person gets off of work- a whole 5 days! A Japanese woman whom I met last semester invited me to her summer cabin in Karuizawa, a ritzy place in the woods about an hour and a half outside of Tokyo... an hour and a half, that is, when riding on the Shinkansen. And with a name like that, you know this is no ordinary train. The Shinkansen is Japan's fastest train, which literally looks like an airplane on tracks. It's expensive but you can basically get anywhere in the country in no time at all. I brought a fellow teaching friend and was pleasantly surprised to arrive and find out we weren't the only guests, there were 6 other people there I got to meet! We went to an onsen (Japaneses hot spring) on the top of a mountain. This means sitting naked with other people in natural hot water looking out at a panoramic view of the mountains. We slept on Japaneses-style futons in a tatami-covered floor, but the best part was the cultural exchanges with the other guests. No one spoke perfect English (though one person was pretty good) but they were all sincerely interested in my friend and I, and we had some good laughs as we tested different ways to communicate, all proven successful.

Getting back to city life refreshed from a night away, I entered my street welcomed by the most incredible festival I have ever seen in Japan! It was amazing. There were big "mountain waggons" being pulled with ropes, each carriage representing a
different area of my mini-city, Fuchu (a city within the city of Tokyo, like a borough) and each telling a different story through costume, dance, and crazy drum beats (I'm talking drums the size of small houses with people standing on top, reaching down with a big stick to bang the drum).The energy and lights and excitement of it all was unlike anything I've ever see here! Then next morning I was awoken at 5am by MORE taiko drums, and I step out onto my balcony to see they have just begun and are marching again. I went to the local temple/shrine, Temple Okuni-tama, and found it covered with food stalls and games, just like a fair, and behind the temple I watched the men get ready for their turn in the parade--- climbing up the drums, strapping themselves in, flailing bamboo sticks in the air as they chant. As if this isn't enough, the third day I'm woken up at 4:27am and again step onto the balcony to see more chanting of "wa shoi" with mikoshi (portable shrines) being paraded down my block. I think these people never stop. This definitely makes my liking of Japan increase, seeing ordinary people (and children!) celebrating Japanese cultural, being unified in costume and song... but I'm not sure what I think about it lasting 5 days of all hours of the night, and right outside my window!