January 9th, the day after our return, was Coming of Age Day, a national holiday. There was also a festival on at Toka Ebisu Shrine, where thousands of people lined up for hours to pray to the gods for prosperity, peace in the home and good luck for the new year. We skipped the queing and took photos instead! Guess large fortunes won't come our way this year...
Patience was rewarded at the end with the chance to pray in front of the shrine and with a random gift (decided by some kind of lottery system).
At 3pm the long line opened up to make way for a small group of Hakata geisha. This was my first time seeing 'live' geisha so, even though they weren't exquisitely beautiful, I was still excited!
Several people took the opportunity to have their palms read by a fortune teller. Shows that the Japanese are way less rational than is sometimes assumed.
Colourful lady who was selling all kinds of pickled goods (I think...)
Cute little girl
The most famous geisha in Japan are undoubtedly the Kyoto geiko (local name). To promote Kyoto and its vibrant cultural life, two Kyoto maiko (teenage girls in training) came to Fukuoka to perform some dances. Yasuko allerted me of their presence so I hurried on to Tenjin to catch their show. While you could tell the maiko were very nervous, their appearance and performance was enchanting!
Looking like a porcelain doll
The two girls were accompanied by their 'mother', the woman who runs the geisha house in Kyoto. She seemed to be quite a crowd-pleaser, but as usual I didn't understand a word!
Last night we had a new year's celebration in Japan after all, because Yukino invited us to a shinnenkai with her & some friends. We had a great night drinking, eating and chatting, and many thanks to Yukino, Kaki and Yoshiko (in photo) for putting up with our horrible Japanese!
4 comments:
Hey Inge, Yukino seems like a really nice girl. I hope I can get to know some friends like her as well in Japan.
Today I heard of a lucrative business for foreigners in Japan on the radio: being fake-priest for Japanese weddings! And I also got an email they are looking in Tokyo for people who want to play 'distressed foreigner' in a training programm for people working in the Tokyo Subway!
big hug!
Beth
Welcome back to the wild & wacky world of Nihon where the past and present mix in a very nationalist environment. Having said that the matsuri are great fun especially if you find a festival in a more remote area. There as a foreigner you often get invited to participate - plus the locals do their damnest to get you drunk (go for it Vaughan!). All in all great fun.
Just to make you feel a bit better Inge once the 'honeymoon' period wore off in Vietnam you'd undoubtedly start to feel the same as you do now about Japan. If you don't believe me remeber all the noise, hoards of people & lack of the comforts of 'home'.
Inge,
Nice girl Yukino and you're wearing a nice Japanese blouse.
Seems Vaughan's and you still enjoy living in Fukuoka.
What a big smile Vaughan!!!
Belgian hugs! The chocolat is coming...
Hey, it became such a fantastic NEW YEAR's party for us as well. Thanks heaps for coming! I realised the language wasn't so important to have fun together, and your Japanese sounded very natural! Kaki & Yoshiko are so happy to have met you & Vaughan and we are planning a next party which is onsen driving or NABE party!
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