So, every time I upload a picture, it moves to the top of the blogging area, I can't get it to move to the bottom. From now on, I will have to make a conscious effort to tell my story backwards, but for this post you may want to start from the bottom of this post and move up? I don't know. I just feel like everything is backwards. haha! (not to mention life here, every time I take a ride with my supervisor in her car, I walk to the drivers side...because the wheel is on the right side!!!! She is driving, but she keeps thinking I want to drive or something, because the passenger side is backwards!)
I'm just really glad that we meant some friends that speak English. Not just Americans, but Canadians, and Japanese that have great English ability.
There were these beautiful paper lanterns hung up everywhere, and it took me a second to realize that they were all hand-made and original. A lot of them also had crayon coloring on them, like they were done by a class of elementary kids, studying calligraphy. They were so beautiful. I wanna take whatever class that is!
Earlier in the day Christina and I had seen a white guy, and he was NOT enthusiastic about seeing us. The kind of traveler that wants to 100% immerse himself, I guess, and not be seen with other foreigners. So when saw meant Anna, we were a little weary about talking to her...but she was like "wow, hi! are you guys American? and kept talking to us" YAY! She was hanging out with Naoya, a really really cool guy who goes to school at Cal State Long beach, but is just back home in Japan for the summer. So the festival helped us meet some people that would make us feel not so isolated and lonely. As the night progressed, more and more the the foreigners were meeting up, and we all ended up at a main hotspot in town, "laughable", which was a bar I'm sure I'll see plenty more of. :)
There were these beautiful paper lanterns hung up everywhere, and it took me a second to realize that they were all hand-made and original. A lot of them also had crayon coloring on them, like they were done by a class of elementary kids, studying calligraphy. They were so beautiful. I wanna take whatever class that is!
We had a lot of fun this first night, but the festival itself was pretty mild. There weren't too many people around. I think for this first day, most of the festivities were right around 4-5p, when there was still light in the sky. There was a karaoke tournament that we saw, but all in all, it wasn't too lively, just beautiful.
Earlier in the day Christina and I had seen a white guy, and he was NOT enthusiastic about seeing us. The kind of traveler that wants to 100% immerse himself, I guess, and not be seen with other foreigners. So when saw meant Anna, we were a little weary about talking to her...but she was like "wow, hi! are you guys American? and kept talking to us" YAY! She was hanging out with Naoya, a really really cool guy who goes to school at Cal State Long beach, but is just back home in Japan for the summer. So the festival helped us meet some people that would make us feel not so isolated and lonely. As the night progressed, more and more the the foreigners were meeting up, and we all ended up at a main hotspot in town, "laughable", which was a bar I'm sure I'll see plenty more of. :)
Behind me you can see how all the candles go up (way in the background. They're going up the stairs to the temple. I am not sure, but I think that the candles are to lead the spirit of Lord Michizane back. I know the Gotanshin festival is commemorating his birth. Lord Sugawara Michizane is the god of learning and literary arts. I guess when he stopped in Hofu, he liked what he saw and promised to return to the area after he died...so I'm guessing these lights are to help him return? I could be wrong.
Here is part of the shrine during the day. It is a very big area. We walked around the shrine grounds for a good 45 min. and have a feeling that we didn't really even see half of it.
Thank you Steffanie. This was a great post.
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