Summer Festival 2007

time flies... its aledi the middle of July... sigh... can still remember the 1st day i started my 2nd sem... very soon it will b september n sept is exam mth.... wht 2 do... thts the life of us slaves to the education system... sigh sigh sigh....

ok ok... enough of sigh b4 i sighing all over the blog....

i'll give a little on the meaning of the festival 1st...

the Summer Festival or Bon Odori is a festival where the Japanese ppl honour their ancestors... celebrate the good n honourable things tht they hv done during their lives... gratefulness... all in all a very joyful celebration...

it all started when my Senpai at JLSM invited me along 2 the festival's dance practice.... being completely ignorant abt Japanese culture, i tot tht it sounded like fun n decided to give it a try... the following week i turned up at Japan Club for the practice.... freshies like us were 2 do the 2nd dance while our Senpais did the 1st... it was a dance wit umbrellas... it looked fun though.... then it came to the 2nd 1... Sensei showed us the 1st few steps.... it looked fun s well... haha... when we tried it out, it not onli look fun it WAS fun although the nex day i got a back ache... haha.... too much bending up & down...

after tht, ws practice every week after class at JLSM... the more steps we learnt, the more enjoyable it got.... haha... then finally it came 2 finishing the whole song... but the worst part ws perfecting the dance... it looks easy s Sensei does it, but *ahem* not s easy at it seems... of cuz that best moment will come... the day we perfected the dance.... although i was still making some mistakes...

a week b4 the festival, we went to the stadium for a full rehearsal... although it was the last week, i was still making some funny mistakes... haha... but it was a satisfying practice.... fate awaits us next week at the same place...

the morning of the festival finally dawned but in the morning i hd to make a trip to the dentist 1st... sigh.... pushed off for the stadium at around 230... or 240... can't remember.... g ot lost for a while... then finally we can c ppl wearing the Bon Odori tshirts, guiding the traffic... man, hd to leave it to them... they hd stationed 2-4 ppl at every turn jus to give directions... n ot onli tht, uniformed police with their huge bikes n RELAs walking around in every direction... n this was jus at the side entrance... it ws the same for the other exits... when the crowd start to pour in, they blocked off every route tht's possible for them to stray away somewhere else... their ppl were every where... stopping you if they suspect tht u were going out of line, or doing something tht u were n ot supposed to...

s i walked in, RELAs n uniformed police were every where... 'wow, tight security' ws my 1st tot... hehe... took a look at the field... the drum stage was aledi up.... so were the lanterns... everything looked ready...

soon rehearsal started out on the track... i ws in my 'panic' mode n made stupid mistakes again... sigh... back to the hall & last minute instructions were given.... the robes were handed out... colourful... haha... the 3rd row hd so called VIP robes... cuz we separated the blue n red robes... haha... then we tied on our head bands n went out to join the crowd watching the drum rehearsal...

there was aledi a huge crowd there... food stalls were up... selling all kinds of stuff... the normal takoyaki, dorayaki, japanese snacks, onigiri (rice balls), sweets, desserts... n for some reason there was ice kacang... mayb cuz it was hot... the stalls were totally well organized... in a perfect angle for long lines, no messy orders in the lines... ppl at the stalls were serving customers in order... they won't tolerate pushing around... all must line up... oh yea, i forgot to mention abt the crowd... hehe... Japanese women in kimonos everywhere... small gals wearing kimonos s well... really colourful when mixed up with the dancers costumes... haha... the crowd was a mixture of mostly japanese n malaysian teens... n guess wht? Japanese guys r totally hot... saw so many cute n cool ones tht day... hoho... n 1 extremely cute drummer.... *ahem* anyway, with RELAs n police controlling the crowd, it seems to b under control... not rowdy at all... without them there, i think the drum stage wud hv been pushed down aledi... anyway, we all joined in the Yagura going round the stage doing simple dance movements... nice experience...
b4 the drum performance started we hung around to hear the speech... the welcoming speech was done in Japanese 1st then English... these 2 languages onli.... hehe... wht a change... from the usual BM, BI N BC in order...

we went back in after a while... to get ready cuz the dance after the drum was the umbrella dance... pulled on our robes n went out to watch the dance... a brief background on both our dances were given in English... another cool change... since i wasn't wit my parents to give a translation... wit RELAs n the ppl helping out wit security, they roped off a big part of the track, keeping ppl from 'accidently' falling on the track... hehe... the 1st dance started... with Sensei in the lead...

a picture finish, a rush to remove the ribbon, put on the robe n put away the umbrellas, panting with exertion, they joined us in the 2nd dance... the music started, we put our heads on our hands n the dance started with Sensei again in the lead...i went 'omg' when i saw the crowd n was freaking out with the amt of ppl watching... surprisingly, i didn't make a single mistake while performing.... hoho... Thank God... if n ot how embarassing with hundreds of pairs of eyes watching... this was another picture finish...

we went back inside, clapping n cheering... hoho... nearly 2mths practice finally paid off... hehe... can hear comments like, 'yata (we did it)' , 'owarimasta (its finished)' ... we returned our robes but they told us to keep the headbands... haha... i think u can guess the reason y... hehe... i left soon after tht cuz dad ws hungry... hehe...

so i met them on the track n we went to the food stalls... ppl were still dancing around the Yagura... haha... wanted to follow but no choice though... RELAs n police still surround the place... sigh... haven't seen them so active b4... i went 'omg' when we g ot to the food stalls... couldn't even get near.... there were ant lines at every stall... nvm its ok.... Taipan is still the best plc for us though...

we left the sounds of the crowd n the music of the festival behind n headed for the car... i was freaking tired... not much stamina left... outside at the back of the stadium, ws totally dark but the festival helpers were everywhere again holding numerous flashlights to guide u to find ur car... where there r cars u can c a few of them... really cool of them...

if i get the chance again, it will b really nice to join again next yr... :p