Halloween Party and Hikone Samurai Festival
Amy's work colleague invited her to a Halloween party and I managed to tag along. In the end, the party was quite small since it consisted of me, Amy, Tomo (Amy's friend) and Tomo's family - her parents and brothers. It was a lot of fun, we helped cook and eat some delicious takoyaki and cheese fondue.
While we were cooking, Tomo's father arrived with a golden full head mask which was hilarious since no-one had been expecting a salary-man with this slightly too small full head mask to burst through the door! Everyone was in the Halloween spirit and wearing something Halloween themed so naturally we had to take a group photo. (I don't have a copy so I can't put it on here but it is a sight to behold.)
Tomo's brother and dad did magic tricks with cards and coins whilst we tried to work out how they were doing them. I ate an ungodly amount of cheese fondue and feared that I'd never move again but it tasted so good that I kept eating more.
It was so nice to be welcomed into their home and I really enjoyed learning magic tricks with the family.
The next day, Hikone held a Samurai festival at the castle grounds so Amy, Nam, Shawn and I all met up to watch the parade by the castle. Since there are so many entrances to the castle, the actual meeting up park didn't go very smoothly but we found each other in time to find somewhere to watch the procession go by. It was made up of local brass bands, flag and baton twirlers, and the main event - the samurai and their clans.
Hikonyan made an appearance too and brought some mascot friends.
After the main procession, there was a shooting display from the castle grounds across the moat. It wasn't as impressive as the Hino gun display but the backdrop of the castle buildings behind them made it very fun to watch.
As soon as they finished, we turned back towards the road to find another procession had stopped in front of us and ladders were being hoisted up into the air. Many people were holding clan symbols on poles and soon we found out why. Three ladders were free standing and three men started climbing up them. They began what can only be described as amazing acrobatics as they balanced in various incredible poses at the very top of the ladders. When they hit a pose, all the symbol bearers for that ladder would shout and raise their symbols as one in support. It was really interesting but a little stressful to watch since the acrobats pulled off some incredible shapes, balancing with very little contact with the ladder.
After I'd recovered my nerves, we decided to go bowling. It was a lot of fun despite almost throwing a gutter ball every time. I got one strike and it was the one time no-one was watching so no-one believed me! We played pool too but since I was driving I couldn't drink so I wasn't playing my best (I have a very delicate balance to strike if I want to play well, which is somewhere not sober but not drunk)!
Tomorrow I'm off to Kyoto to meet with Tom who's also teaching English in Japan but living on one of the small tropical islands to the south. He doesn't get off the island much but it'll be really nice to see someone from Manchester!
While we were cooking, Tomo's father arrived with a golden full head mask which was hilarious since no-one had been expecting a salary-man with this slightly too small full head mask to burst through the door! Everyone was in the Halloween spirit and wearing something Halloween themed so naturally we had to take a group photo. (I don't have a copy so I can't put it on here but it is a sight to behold.)
Tomo's brother and dad did magic tricks with cards and coins whilst we tried to work out how they were doing them. I ate an ungodly amount of cheese fondue and feared that I'd never move again but it tasted so good that I kept eating more.
It was so nice to be welcomed into their home and I really enjoyed learning magic tricks with the family.
The next day, Hikone held a Samurai festival at the castle grounds so Amy, Nam, Shawn and I all met up to watch the parade by the castle. Since there are so many entrances to the castle, the actual meeting up park didn't go very smoothly but we found each other in time to find somewhere to watch the procession go by. It was made up of local brass bands, flag and baton twirlers, and the main event - the samurai and their clans.
Hikonyan made an appearance too and brought some mascot friends.
After the main procession, there was a shooting display from the castle grounds across the moat. It wasn't as impressive as the Hino gun display but the backdrop of the castle buildings behind them made it very fun to watch.
As soon as they finished, we turned back towards the road to find another procession had stopped in front of us and ladders were being hoisted up into the air. Many people were holding clan symbols on poles and soon we found out why. Three ladders were free standing and three men started climbing up them. They began what can only be described as amazing acrobatics as they balanced in various incredible poses at the very top of the ladders. When they hit a pose, all the symbol bearers for that ladder would shout and raise their symbols as one in support. It was really interesting but a little stressful to watch since the acrobats pulled off some incredible shapes, balancing with very little contact with the ladder.
After I'd recovered my nerves, we decided to go bowling. It was a lot of fun despite almost throwing a gutter ball every time. I got one strike and it was the one time no-one was watching so no-one believed me! We played pool too but since I was driving I couldn't drink so I wasn't playing my best (I have a very delicate balance to strike if I want to play well, which is somewhere not sober but not drunk)!
Tomorrow I'm off to Kyoto to meet with Tom who's also teaching English in Japan but living on one of the small tropical islands to the south. He doesn't get off the island much but it'll be really nice to see someone from Manchester!
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