Summer Fun

Yukata Rules
Summer in Japan means festivals and yukata (summer kimono). Several weeks ago there was a big good-bye party for leaving JETs. The theme: toga! But the Nyuzen(kurobe) crew has a style of our own. So we decided to go in yukata. We got lots of compliments! If you really want to know how to wear a yukata, just click on the link above. That's how we tried to put ours on at first, but later our Japanese friend retied it for us! Thank goodness!

Glass blowing
My friend, Takae, and I decided to sweat it out in a glass blowing studio in the summer heat. Not the brightest decision for a hot afternoon...but a few more degrees didn't really matter. We had both done it once before but by no means knew what we are doing. Luckily we had two teachers to guide us through the entire process. We get to pick up our unique creations this week. Who will be the lucky recipient of my artwork?


Tanabata Festival
This festival is held in July/August throughout Japan. The decorations for Tanabata are incredible. People spend months, or all year making decorations to hang from large bamboo trees they set up on the main streets of town. Other bamboo just has colored pieces of paper thin plastic that people have written wishes on. These wishes hang in the breeze and many people stop to read them while they are walking around town. My town is currently celebrating Tanabata. It involves the typical festival food stands: takoyaki, castella, okonomiyaki, yakitori, kakigori, etc. But this festival also had amazing taiko drumming, dancing and my students were wearing yukata!! My friend, Chica, and I strolled around town looking at the flea markets, commenting on all the yukatas and constantly tempting ourselves to buy festival food--but we knew better!!