Dancing in the Streets

Barely a week after our arrival in Sukagawa, we were roped in to the Obon festivities. I can't be sure, but I think it parallels either the Qingming or Hungry Ghost festival back in sg, since everyone seems to go back to their hometown to tidy up their ancestral graves, and to "welcome the spirits of their ancestors". I reckon it's got a less occult bent here though.

The lot of us at the Board of Education were asked to join the contingent from the city hall in a massive public line dance called the Bon-odori , since it was part of our job to represent the local civil servants. I just took it as an excuse to dress up in ceremonial yukata and reveal my total lack of coordination to the townspeople.

Nice yukata! Pity about everything else...

And then someone had the bright idea of making us dance at the head of the parade together with the three winners of this year's Miss Botan pageant. ><;;;



And unco I was! Everybody else seemed to be getting it but me. D'oh!



After about 2 hours of toe-tapping mayhem on the streets of central Sukagawa, they gave all the ALTs special book voucher prizes for dancing "well". Sure, rub it in guys... TT... I think I might use that voucher to buy myself a copy of "Bon-odori (and other ridiculously basic dances) for Dummies".

You might have noticed the bang up job I did of covering the faces in the photos. Seeing as this is a public blog, and that I look absolutely shithouse in photos, I have taken the liberty of a little self censorship. For your own protection, folks! It's also because I haven't really asked for permission from the other people in the photos to make their faces public. So, smile, darn ya, smile... because this world is a great world after all... o/~