Say it with me: she – moe – key – tah – zah – wah. My tongue tripped over it for the first 35 times, but I think I’ve got a handle now.
Japanese words always seem to be very sing-songy. consonant – vowel, consonant – vowel, repeat.
There’s an extremely helpful magazine, written in English, about Tokyo. It’s along the same style as the Shepherd Express (in Milwaukee), the Seattle Weekly, or the Westword (Denver). While we don’t often run across hard copies of Metropolis, they have a fantastic web site. It’s been a source of lots of events while we’ve been here, and I have no idea why we didn’t find it before.
Without having any other plans or ideas on what to do with our time, we decided to go with this:
Tengu Matsuri
Don’t miss the mamemaki performance on the first day, when 200 children rid the parade of men dressed as devils.
I like to plan. Some people might call me a bit controlling, or say that I’m afraid of fun, or that spontaneity is lost on me, but really I just don’t like to be lost. I like to have places to be, times to be there, and a general sense of what to expect. Expanding on my character flaws, this pre-game research often leads to me sounding like a know-it-all.
But not this time! This time I’ll try to go with the flow! Be laid back! Throw caution to the wind!
***
We set out for Shimokita, a neighborhood known for its narrow streets and vintage stores. And in true Tokyo fashion, it was rather busy.
Usually at the train station, there’s a map of the surrounding area. Temples have a certain icon, so we had a general idea of what to look for. Leaving the south entrance, there was only 1 temple on the map. We assumed that that was it and set out on our way. The area became very neighborhoody, really fast.
Eventually we found the temple we set out for, realized it was the wrong place (it was more like a grade school with a cemetery attached!), and headed back to the train station. This time, we’d try the north exit.
Just as I was cursing the fact that I hadn’t been better prepared, and as I was swearing off spontaneity for good, we spotted these banners! Now it looks like we’re getting near something!
A few blocks later, jon spotted a parade float. And when you see other people stop to get their picture taken in front of something, what do you do? Stand in line to get yours too!
Note to self: Good posture is important. My arms look like ham hocks!
At this point, we don’t know if we’ve missed the main event, if we’re early, or perhaps just not in quite the right spot yet. We walked towards the temple, the right temple this time, and positioned ourselves in the crowd. Jon will never blend in, in this country. If you look closely at the left side of the picture below, you can see his head sticking up above everyone else’s!
There’s very clearly some sort of religious ceremony going on, which may or may not have been interesting had the following two conditions been met:
- I understood japanese
- Jon did not insist on yelling “Throw your beans!!!!” every five minutes.
… a lot of people in the festival were holding ceremonious boxes full of beans, which they would eventually throw to ward off evil spirits. This may or may not have been the emperor. Check out his eyebrows.
No really. Look at his eyebrows!
Also, while I have your attention, look at these weird shoes. Didn’t Sarah Jessica Parker (the chick from Sex and the City) try to bring this style to America a few years back? (she failed, miserably, btw)
On to the parade!
And on to the streets. We started wandering in and out of shops, exploring, and seeing Shimokitazawa.
This was a flower shop / bar. Neat, eh? Mom, are you listening?
***
Let’s end here. I’ll start back up with the story from lunch on, after these messages from our sponsors. Or… you know. Tomorrow.
