August 1, 2004. Festivals
Yesterday and today we went to Festivals. Yesterdays outing was planned; we had heard about the festival near Ebisu, which ran from 1-5 we were told. We got there very late as we had to visit the furniture rental place. We went there with the children, but we quickly realized that there were many decisions to make and we needed much more time than the children would have patience for.
So I took the children back on the Ginza line to the children’s castle. But they needed to be fed. So we stopped in a nice little restaurant that I choose because at least two of the children had seen something on the posted menu they wanted to eat. Beef and rice appealed to Saskia, spagetti appealed to Pascale. The spagetti, the waittress (who was called upon because of her English skills) told us, was in garlic sauce. So we ordered that and the beef and rice and just as a precaution I ordered some chicken dish as well (I fugured there would be enough left overs for me to make a lunch out of as well, I am taking the opportunity to loose some excess weight in Japan and with all the walking and sweating am having some success, the suits I bought just a month ago are now too wide and require a belt). It was a good idea, as the spagetti in garlic sauce was full of shrimp and vegetables; the rice and beef was covered completely with a rather runny omelet, whereas the chicken dish came with some macaroni and cheese! There was enough food for each of us to get enough (I ate by far the most).
When we came to pick the children up later that afternoon, we went on to Ebisu to the festival. We got there quite late, just 30 minutes before it was to be over, but when we found the square beautifully decorated with lanterns, it appeared that the festival was over, none of the food stands had any food left. Fortunately, there was one food stand where there was some action, so we were able to feed Roberta who had not yet had any lunch engrossed as she was in the selection of a Japanese dining set (both the table and the chairs have very little in the way of legs and you sit on your knees or in the lotus position). However, upon inquiry, it turned out that the festival had not yet started, it was going to be held from 6-9.
So we walked around the neighborhood and noticed an ever growing number of women and men in Kimono’s heading towards the square. Kimonos are very beautiful and have a characteristic wide belt worn high on the stomach with a beautiful bow in the back. The traditional kimonos are in blue and white. I understand why men want to wear them, as it seems the only time the men wear shorts. When we went back to the square, the show started. A large group of people (some children too) beat on Taiko drums, which they do in a kind of Judo costume with elegant movements of the arms. An older man did the entire drumming session in warrior one pose, quite impressive we thought. They also hit the side of the drum, quite hard, which I thought was a bit of a shame, but the drums are pretty sturdy.
We ate some noodles, and a barbequed corn, as well as some yakatori (tori=chicken, barbequed pieces of chicken on little wooden sticks). But there were some interesting looking things we did not eat, such as entire squid on a stick.
After the drum demonstration was over, a large group of (mostly elderly) women performed a very elegant dance around the square to music that sounded much like Indian or even Arabic music to us (but it was very Japanese a older man whom I talked to for a while said. He wanted to practice his English with me I think. He said: “This song Japanese very interesting!” “really?” “Very interesting” “What is the song about” “Very complicated, very interesting Japanese song!”). After their demonstration, the public was invited to join the line, and Pascale and Lukas did, much to the delight of most everybody.
There were some things to do for children, in particular there was a game you could play for 100 yen. The money bought you a little ‘net’ with which you could catch little goldfish which swam in great schools large low tubs. Except that the net was not really a net, but a ricepaperthin piece of material. The problem was that the membrane broke as soon as you moved it through the water with anything faster than turtlespeed, and as the goldfish are actually quite agile, it is virtually impossible to catch them. I broke ours almost instantly. I immediately thought that this was yet another brilliant invention to make money on the part of the Japanese (small wonder their economy is booming). But when Lukas was a little upset at me breaking the toy, and so the kind lady scooped two goldfish up with her real fishnet put them in a little plastic bag and gave it to Lukas. So now we have a pet, no 2 pets! (We almost lost them as Lukas put the bag next to him in the metro, spilling most of the water, but the fish endured the ordeal and are now happily swimming in the acquarium (which Roberta purchased in a pet shop immediately after the pet acquisition and for a lot more money (may be they are in on the deal?)). A day later they were joined by 5 friends from Shibuya-ku as we chanced upon another festival the next day, which was in our neighborhood and a lot more intimate. It did not have quite the food selection, but there were more goldfish to be caught, this time for free, so before too long we might start our own business selling ricepaper fishnets at festivals.
11:53:36 PM 
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