23/9 - Festival and dinner with the mayor

- and I’m not joking.

First things first, I went to Ogata, a close-by town, to go to a festival (matsuri). It was really interesting, and I even met a American named Avi! We chatted quite a bit, and he’s also helping out on a farm; his job is picking kabosu (a Japanese lime-ish fruit).
Of course, we were interesting to the Japanese, and we spoke with a lot of different people. There was this one guy who said “Oh, I’ll introduce you to the city mayor! I’ll take you there, let’s go some time!” -I ended up going without Avi because he wanted to find an ATM (a money withdrawal machine). I spent 3 hours at the mayor’s place, from 4pm to 7pm! I had a lot of fun, and joined a party consisting mainly of men… men above age 30. Anyways, I still had fun! They all got preeeetty drunk though.
I ate dinner there; mainly sushi, but also a few other things, including something I’d NEVER thought I’d eat. This man next to me told me to try it, and polite as I am, I didn’t say no. I thought it looked like beef, and asked if it was. He said he honestly didn’t really know, but then after I’d put it in my mouth, he said “ah, uma no sashimi!” … wtf… Uma = horse, sashimi = raw flesh, so yeah, I basically ate RAW HORSE. Felt kinda bad, but decided to think that the horse was already dead, and it would be even more of a waste to spit it out; plus it would be pretty impolite. That was however both my first and last time eating horse. The texture of raw fish is ok, but the texture of cold, raw meat is slightly different. I didn’t really taste it though, but I recall it was a little… bland? I have nothing to compare it with really. I stuck with the sushi though; and perhaps too much of it, but hey, it’s pretty healthy, right?

When I told them I was going back by bike, some of them said “oh, you’re welcome to stay here for the night, it’s no problem”, and pretty much everyone I spoke with told me to come sometime again. Again, incredibly nice people whom I’d love to meet again!

I, of course, have some pictures to share!

The view from a bridge I crossed on the way there. Very beautiful!

Kodomo no taiko – Children of the drum. The guy in front with the long hair and yellow bag is Avi. I hadn’t spoken with him at this point though. He’s 27 and an English teacher (in the US) from Philadelphia. He doesn’t really speak Japanese; just a few phrases.

Some carries like the one I showed you from the beautiful temple (the BBQ-place) with the friend of otou-san.

One of the food stalls. This is “hashimaki”, a pancake (not sweet) rolled onto a pair of chopsticks. Tried them, and they’re pretty much like takoyaki without the tako.

Goldfish scooping. You get a bowl and scoop goldfish, basically… They coloured the water yellow, just for fun I assume.

Yakisoba, fried soba (buckwheat) noodles.

How ‘bout some grilled squid? Ikayaki.

Takoyaki, fried octopus balls; guess you didn’t know octopi had balls! (Just to quote Danny Choo – check him out on dannychoo.com!) They look like danish æbleskiver, but instead of the piece of apple (which USED to be in old days’ æbleskiver), there’s a piece of octopus.

Kakikoori (cover(ed) + ice); shaved ice (frozen-water-ice) which you cover with a flovoured syrup. Didn’t try it though…

This is how cotton candy is served in Japan – in a bag.

Yakitori, fried chicken on a stick.

Some of the ceremonial stuff taking place. I guess the children chase/tame the oni (Japanese monster).

One of the many, many dances taking place aaaall day!

This guy was AWESOME! Very intense!

These guys danced like… forever! An hour or so!

Different people, same style – pretty cool.
  

This guy dressed as an oni, climbed a pretty tall (15 metres or so) bamboo – no safety like, just climbing it with a pair of tabi (traditional Japanese shoes with the big toe separated from the other toes), and probs a pair of gloves. From there, he threw some small bags; I think it may have contained some kind of mochi, but I don’t know. (Mochi, pound rice chewy, gooey cake-ish, traditional Japanese food, often sweet.)
 
 

Kagura dance. I spoke with on old lady, and from what I understood, it told something about when Japan was created. “Nihon no tsukutta toki ni, something-something”, I think she said.

Pretty blurry, but this is the party at the mayor’s house. It was really big, and really, really pretty! Spoke quite a lot with the person next to me. He’s not the mayor though.

Hanabi, flower fire, directly translated. I guess you can tell what it is ;) Also, the stalls at night.
 

More hanabi. Wasn’t spectacular, but I thought I had to see it anyways; it belongs at a matsuri.

 

SO! Today was loaded with pictures, but it’s also my final day in Ono-machi. Last day with the family, and I didn’t even spend it with the family. I’ve had a good time though! Tomorrow, I think I’ll pay Taketa another visit, but first, I need to withdraw some money. I’ll go the other onsen (hot spring), access the internet on my OWN pc, and have a final meet with the people I met there. The nice nashi-man (with the old house), for example, and possibly Claudia from the tourist information centre. Yeah!
More than three weeks have passed, and I’ll soon go to the more civilized part of Japan. I’m a little nervous, but at the same time a little excited. Hope I’ll find some cheap youth hostels, and not the least, lots of places with wifi, lol!