Summer Vacation
2005-08-20
Hey again, my faithful and most patient readers! I'm sorry I have been even less updaty than normal, but summer vacation has kept me rather busy. First by the yearly Kanto Festival right here in Akita, then lots of sad goodbyes and what-not, followed by 9 days of travelling around Japan. I will get into the travelling bit more tomorrow or the day after, once I get pictures sorted out and the like. For now, I shall talk a little about Kanto.
Kanto Matsuri ("festival" in Japanese) is the biggest one in Akita, and has rather long traditions. What it basically constitutes is lots of strong men liften huge, heavy (50+ kg) poles with big lanterns hanging from them and balancing them on their hands, heads, shoulders and even hips. Accompanied by droning drums, flutes and the audience's cheering. There's about 400 of these poles beeing hoisted next to each other down one of the bigger streets in Akita City. The spectacle goes on for four days, attracting roughly a million visitors in total. Yes, a million people gathered in a city who's normal population is about 300,000. That's a buttload of people, I can tell you that! I went to watch this crazy event two times, though the second was so crowded, and we were so tired, we went home early. AIU had a team of brave young men and women (women playing drums and flute, since they're actually not allowed to lift the actual Kanto) doing their best at honoring their school. They did pretty well, I have to say. They did drop the big pole a couple of times, but I think most teams did. Just look at the pictures, and imagine having 50 kg sitting on your forhead, and you'll get some idea of how hard this really is.
Kanto Matsuri ("festival" in Japanese) is the biggest one in Akita, and has rather long traditions. What it basically constitutes is lots of strong men liften huge, heavy (50+ kg) poles with big lanterns hanging from them and balancing them on their hands, heads, shoulders and even hips. Accompanied by droning drums, flutes and the audience's cheering. There's about 400 of these poles beeing hoisted next to each other down one of the bigger streets in Akita City. The spectacle goes on for four days, attracting roughly a million visitors in total. Yes, a million people gathered in a city who's normal population is about 300,000. That's a buttload of people, I can tell you that! I went to watch this crazy event two times, though the second was so crowded, and we were so tired, we went home early. AIU had a team of brave young men and women (women playing drums and flute, since they're actually not allowed to lift the actual Kanto) doing their best at honoring their school. They did pretty well, I have to say. They did drop the big pole a couple of times, but I think most teams did. Just look at the pictures, and imagine having 50 kg sitting on your forhead, and you'll get some idea of how hard this really is.
