It's my first day back to school after Spring vacation and my vacation was awesome! It was my first time experiencing 花見 (hanami, flower watching). At first I didn't understand why it was such a big deal. The flowers were beautiful, but we have flowers back home. We even have cherry blossom trees back home. Once the trees started to bloom, however, I understood. It felt like the entire country was breathing a sigh of relief after winter. Everyone seemed happier and even I my mood, which was good to begin with, was uplifted sitting in the castle courtyard under a cover of cherry blossoms. There were also lanterns strung up around the castle that glowed pink after dark.
I want to compare 花見 to something back in America, but I'm not sure there's anything quite like it. Everyone gathers under the trees for picnics, BBQ, and lots of drinking. There were company parties, family get-togethers, couples holding hands, and students enjoying their break all in one location. At the castle, where I spent most of 花見, there were food stalls selling a variety of food and candy and one stall was even selling masks with the faces various anime characters. My friend Dave has a portable BBQ, so we had a picnic one night. Mike was visiting me as well, so I took some days off work. We found a nice picnic blanket and had lunch under the trees and enjoyed the weather. We even got sakura doughnuts one day as a treat and ate them under the sakura trees. One night a friend of ours brought a guitar and we sang songs until they turned off the lanterns. Even ridding my bike to and from the board of education for work, I was biking along the river under a cover of cherry blossoms. It was amazing!
Unfortunately, along with the nice weather of the past two weeks there's also been some rain and strong wind, so the cherry blossoms have almost all fallen from the trees and the leaves are starting to grow. It was beautiful while it lasted, but all the flowers bloomed and fell pretty much within a two week period. I was so lucky to share my first 花見 with Mike and I'm excited for next year when (hopefully) my mom and aunt will be joining me!
Along with 花見, Mike and I had a great time hanging out in KitaQ. We had some great dinners, sang karaoke, returned to the fish market, played games with my friends, visited one of my old co-workers. One of my co-workers from Futajima, たかこ(Takako), invited Mike and I out for lunch and museum visit. We went to a great udon restaurant near Takako's house and then to 八幡西区石坂 (Ishizaka, West Yahata). There's a block of buildings in Ishizaka that have been preserved since the Edo period (1603-1867). Most of the buildings we visited were from the later years of the Edo period. The buildings were mostly converted into museums, still having their original layout, but filling every available space with hina dolls in this case. They have already taken down the hina dolls as 雛祭り (hina matsuri, Doll's Day or Girl's Day) has already passed and I believe they are now displaying banners and samurai dolls for こどもの日 (kodomo no hi, Children's Day). It was a little rainy the day we went, but we still had a lot of fun walking around and exploring all the old buildings. If you're curious, you can read about it here (be warned this article is in Japanese, although the Google translation of it is pretty fun to read).
The hina dolls were amazing and many were hundreds of years old. There were some in giant music boxes and others with spinning lights. Almost all the displays had the full seven steps. All the faces were different and hand painted. The attention to detail on the faces, clothes, food, and furniture were astounding and it was such a cool opportunity to see all these displays. In case your wondering, a quick overview of each tier in the display is:
- First - 内裏雛 (dari bina, imperial dolls) Emperor and Empress (or bride and groom as these displays typically depict weddings).
- Second - 三人官女 (sannin kanjo, three court ladies) Three ladies responsible for pouring sake.
- Third - 五人囃子 (gonin bayashi, five musicians) Five male musicians who play the small drum, large drum, hand drum, and flute with one singer.
- Fourth - 大臣 (daijin, ministers) Two ministers often depicted with bows and arrows. There are also diamond shaped rice cakes and お膳 (ozen, covered bowl table).
- Fifth - 上戸 (jougo, drinkers) These are three samarai or protectors of the Emperor and Empress. Each are a different drunk: sad, angry, and happy.
- Sixth - The sixth and seventh tier usually have furniture from within the palace or that the brides family gave to the couple. There are variations on the furniture but it generally consists of a five-drawer chest, a long chest for a kimono, a smaller clothing storage, a mirror stand, a sewing kit, two braziers (fire containers), and a set of お茶道具 (ocha dougu, tea ceremony utensils).
- Seventh - More furniture. This tier again can vary, but it is traditionally a set of bento boxes, a palanquin (covered chair with parallel poles for being carried), and an ox-drawn carriage sometimes baring flowers.
Mike and I also finally got around to going to Space World, the NASA and space themed amusement park near my apartment. I pass it on the train every time I commute to Futajima and despite some roller coasters I assumed it would be pretty small and not take the whole day. I was pleasantly surprised when we easily spent six hours in the park and could have stayed longer! We went on all the rides, played some games, and looked around the shops. We didn't see any of the shows, but they mostly looked like they were for younger audiences (not to mention Mike wouldn't be able to understand anything). We had a great time and I even won a doll from one of the games! We ran into a group of middle school girls on a water rapids ride who were excited to practice their English with us and we ended up riding in a raft together. They even took pictures with us after we finished! It was a great time and I think I will be going back often. Next time I go I'll get a year long pass! To see what rides, restaurants, and games are there you can look at their website (this time it is English)!
>Spring vacation was lots of fun, but now it's time to get back to work. I started at my new school 石峰 (Ishimine) this morning and will be there this year instead of Futajima. I will stay at Shinozaki. Teachers and administrators in Fukuoka (and I believe all of Japan, but I could be wrong) get moved between schools every few years. They are hired by the board of education rather then the school. School's right now are doing 離任式 (rininshiki, farewell ceremony) for the teachers leaving this school and 始業式 (shigyoushiki, welcoming ceremony) for the teachers coming to this school. On Wednesday we will have 入学式 (nyuugakushiki, school welcome ceremony), so I probably won't be in a class until Friday. So far everyone seems nice, the teachers have all be very welcoming to me and I'm really excited to meet my new students! I've started planning for summer and I have a big trip coming up that I'm really looking forward to! I'll talk more about that as it gets closer and I have more details, but I'm picking up my plane tickets after school today and I could not be more excited!
Very nice! Good luck at your new school.
ReplyDelete