I’m back with another blog. Slightly later than planned but only by a couple of days. This blog will cover four new experiences for me during October and the beginning of November.
First up, I finally managed to get to a Yabusame event. This is a traditional Japanese horseback archery ritual. There are several events around the Kanto area each year. I went to one at Toyama Park in Waseda. I got there a little bit before they started, but unfortunately way too late to get a good viewing spot, hence why the following photos are really bad. It was super interesting to watch for a bit (though I didn’t stay until the end because it was hot and crowded). There were several archers, including a tiny elementary school boy. They were all dressed up in ceremonial garb and they took turns guiding their horses down the length of the designated area, firing three arrows at three targets. Some hit, some didn’t, but it was all very exciting either way! I’d definitely recommend checking an event out if you ever can.
Next, Shyam and I went to the Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architecture museum in Koganei, which is to the west of Tokyo. It’s an amazing museum! There are loads of original houses, shops and other buildings on display from the Edo period. You can go inside and explore most of the places and we had an amazing time getting to fully immerse ourselves in what it was like to live in Japan. They have buildings that were built in the 17th century right up to ones built more recently in the mid-20th century.
There was also an old bus that you could go inside and imagine you were taking a journey somewhere in the past. Then there was a full street of reconstructed shops. For example, a soy sauce shop, a flower shop, and a bar. And there was even an onsen, which honestly didn’t look too dissimilar to some of the ones I’ve been to today, lol.
A thoroughly enjoyable day out, that wasn’t spoiled by the rain as they had umbrellas on hand for us to borrow. 100% recommend this place for a few hours trip.
Third up is my school’s culture festival. The only school culture festival experience I’d had up to this point was at my two public junior high schools back in Yokohama. The first was an ‘all in the school hall’ affair to watch the kids on the stage. The next three were all Covid affected, so most of the action was recorded and shown on TV screens set up in each classroom. I didn’t go to my first two at my current school as I’m not obligated to attend and it falls on the weekend (I live far from my school ^^; ). But last year all six native teachers, plus one who left earlier in the year, decided to go together. I’m so glad I went because it was a very different experience.
We all arrived and dumped our stuff in the teachers’ room. Then we began to go around the school in this intimidating big group of foreigners (a couple of husbands joined too). It was hilarious! So each class set up something in their classroom and each club set up something too, so there was a lot to see! We went to the English Club first because these were our kids that we’d coached through the process to set up their offering. They had made a bingo game and we sat through a couple of rounds of this and I managed to win one of their handmade bookmarks! I still happily use it now in my current reading book. It’s a bit battered because I may or may not have accidentally dropped it in the bath once.
After that we went to various classrooms across the six grades of the school. Every class had different things going on. For example, most of my kids (second grade senior high) had Okinawa themes since their school trip takes them there, other classes had set up games, ‘casinos’, and some had made some exhibitions of various works. The cooking club had made a giant sugar creation that was very impressive.
In the Ikebana (flower arranging) club room, we found lots of beautiful designs, including one by one of our own native English teachers. Also, for some reason, they had some very interesting handmade headgear that some of us couldn’t resist trying on.
Outside there were various performances on a stage erected in front of the school. Dance club, brass band, and various other clubs. I didn’t see too much of them though as it rained, of course. There was also stuff going on in the hall and the gym but I never actually got there ^^; This year I will! They also had a bunch of food trucks out the front near the gate. We didn’t partake though as they were very crowded and, as I just said, it was raining. So once we were done, we all headed to the Saizeriya not too far away and had cheap fake Italian food. It was the perfect way to finish a fun few hours 🙂
The last thing I’ll talk about in this entry is that time Shyam, Katy, and I went axe-throwing. Shyam had been before, but this was mine and Katy’s first time. It was super fun! Very awkward at first. I couldn’t seem to get a good grip on my axe for a while, but by the end of the session, I was a pro! (kind of). It was a small place in Ikebukuro, where Shyam and I had been together before to do the room smashing (I think I included that in a blog entry). They set us up and showed us how to do it and then let us have at it for our session (I think it was an hour). I think we all managed bullseyes by the end (Shyam quite a few). It was super fun and I highly recommend this also, haha.
Okay, we made it to the end of this rather mamouth entry. I hope some of that was interesting. I’ll be back at some point (I’m quite busy the next couple of weeks but we shall see). Thank you for reading!
A year in Japan 