Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri

Saturday was the 18th.

The 18th of September was the release of Pokemon Black and White.

I got up at normal time and headed to campus to partake of their Internet before heading back to the station to meet with Daniel.  His host sister (a Pokemon fan) said that there was no way we would be able to get copies without a pre-order and I was rather put-out, but I decided not to take no for an answer.

We killed a half hour getting donuts while the store I saw with the poster opened.  Daniel lacked a PMA and tried to reason that just because it had a poster didn't mean it was selling it, but I ignored him because it's logical that a store would only host a poster of something it was selling, to entice one to come buy it.

So we went inside and there was a very moderate line of people... with game boxes.  We were pointed in the correct direction and found the marvelous display, which contained... empty boxes.  I grabbed a Black and Daniel waffled for a while before taking a White and we got in line.  We traded the empty boxes at the register for the game and got a bonus pencil board with our purchases.

Then it was back to campus to play.

There were a few other international students there who either were interested in the game or going to pick their own copies up later.  We all had the same idea--use it to practice our Japanese.  There's an option to switch between hiragana (the phonetic alphabet) and kanji.  I'm happily on the hiragana section and it's helping with my reading speed.  Daniel's got his set to kanji.  Okaasan will sit with me sometimes and tell me what some of the words mean.  I know Pokemon well enough to understand what's going on, vaguely, but it's nice to know what's actually being said.  I get really excited when I understand something.

I've currently got one badge.  My team is at level 13; Tsutaja, Youteri, Shimama, Hiyappu, Dangoro and Mamepato, for those interested.  Nintendo pitched a fit over the weekend and Serebii.net isn't allowed to post pictures of the game, but I've got a window open of the sprites if anyone wants me to take screencaps and repost.

 

Sunday I slept in a whole hour before getting up and heading to campus to meet with the festival group.  We traveled back to the station together and started our two-hour trek to Kishiwada for the Danjiri festival.  Otousan was worried when I said that's where I was going, because people have died at the festival in the past.  It took 3 trains and about 1000 yen each way, but we eventually arrived and immediately were thrown into the festival.  A float was run by a full speed, all the people of the neighborhood helping it along.

Our group of 20 or so wandered around, getting stopped now and again when we ran into the parade route or when people wanted to stop at booths for food or goods or games.

As it got later in the day, we headed to the Kishiwada castle.  It was small, though the property and the moat were huge, compared to most plots of land in Japan.  We were given a half hour to wander around it.  The inside had been made into a museum with medieval suits of armor and scrolls and whatnot.  We were allowed on the balcony to look out over the city.  We could see clear to the ocean.

Then we trekked back to the station and did our train-hopping in reverse, I got on my bus and headed home.

Monday was Respect for the Aged Day, a national holiday, so there was no school.  I got up early, intending to use the lounge for Internet, but the CIE was closed, so I headed back to the station.  Starbucks lied and didn't have free Internet, but I got 10 minutes' worth of a free trial before packing up and wandering around.

I intended to find the yarn store Okaasan had mentioned.  I ended up down a side street with water features down each side.  There was a map (with English translation) that noted there was a shrine at the end of the street so I continued down it.

There was a shrine!  Up the stairs, past the little park, down the hill and up the other stairs through the torii (gate) and into the shrine area.  Half way up the second set of stairs there was another park area.  I stopped in it for a bit and had a butterfly lick my finger for a good five minutes before continuing on my way.  When I reached the top, I was literally attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes.  Before visiting the shrine, I had about 20-25 bites.  After visiting the shrine, I had between 45 and 50.

I used the fountain for purification and wasn't touched by mosquitoes afterward.  It was eerie.  I explored a little bit before heading back and wandering around the station and it's immediate surrounding area again.  I was headed down a more residential area when I noticed there was someone walking behind me.  He caught up and was going to go on his way and then fell back to walk next to me.  He just wanted to practice his English, I think.  He wandered with me for a while before we parted ways.  It was a little awkward, but he didn't seem like he had ill intentions.

I killed more time playing Pokemon and reading Ulysses before Daniel, Arianna and Ayana showed up and we headed to karaoke.  It was pretty awesome.  We had a huge selection of songs and switched between English and Japanese.  We dueted Disney, Fullmetal Alchemist and Inu-Yasha songs as well as Supercalifragilisticexpialadocious (or however it's spelled).  I got a few texts from Loki--who was at karaoke with a bunch of other people from game at the same time in California.  It was really neat to be doing the same things as the people back home.

Before getting on the bus home, I picked up a bunch of yarn to make stuff for my host family and a bouquet of flowers for Okaasan.  I couldn't get anyone to tell me the age cut-off or requirement to be considered aged on the Respect for the Aged Day, but she's 59 and I figured it was close enough--and that she'd like flowers.

It was Konta-kun's birthday, I think, so Misa's older sister (whose name I still don't know) and her not-husband and Konta were over.  There were presents and then they left.  Okaasan wasn't home and didn't get home until well after I went to bed.

And the intro to Pokemon Black, for those who are interested.