Nada Kenka Matsuri

The Nada Kenka Matsuri (Nada Fight Festival) is one I have been looking forward to all year. It is probably the most popular festival in Himeji and there are thousands upon thousands of people who attend. It is so popular because of the excitement value. It is very dangerous, risky, frightening, yet colourful and beautiful all at the same time.

The Nada Festival goes for two days.

On the first day, all the seven districts of Nada (each with their own local colours) carry the shrines for everyone to see and appreciate. These shrines are so heavy that they would weigh about a tonne, so there are around fifty men all helping to carry them. Even still, you can sometimes catch them shaking because it is so heavy.

The second day is when all the action happens! This is the day where they bring out the shrines that are not so delicate and beautiful-looking so that they can bang them together and fight with them. It is the most horrific-looking exercise seeing these shrines being banged together and falling and rolling into the crowd. There is no way that I would want to be stuck in the middle of all of that!

We were lucky enough to get seats from Tina’s teacher at work who has a friend that let us sit in special seats on the second level. We were safe from all the scary stuff that was going on down below, so we could freely take pictures and enjoy the festival from above. This is the man and his wife who let us sit with them during the festival.

They were also nice enough to buy us a bento lunch on the first day. It was delicious, but so filling that I couldn’t eat it all! Just looking at it now makes me hungry again!

At one stage, all the shrines moved to a different location by the mountain and we weren’t able to get seats. This was really unfortunate because we ended up at the bottom (like Gladiator) about to get crushed by all these huge heavy shrines and thousands of people! It was really scary being in there, but kind of exciting at the same time!

On our way to the next section of the festival, we passed some men who were wearing yellow bands around their heads called hachimaki. They were kind enough to give us the hachimaki to wear for the rest of the day, so that we looked like we were all getting in the action of it too!

Another part of the festival which is very unique is the costumes. The men wear a white g-string-type thing on the bottom that is called a mawashi. Many years ago, this was what the men used to wear as their everyday clothes. Now they only wear them during festivals…not that I’m complaining! Some of the men also wore a happi which is like an open vest.

They come in all different bright colours and it looks so colourful when they are all mixed in together wearing their outfits. We managed to get two really good pictures of the costumes for your viewing pleasure!

Festival Season

Everybody in Japan knows that October is the season for festivals. This is the time where everybody prays for a good harvest for the year, which is the reason for most of the festivals being held in October. So that is why the next couple of entries are about festivals – which is one of my most favourite things in Japan. The best thing about the festivals in Japan is that they are all free. You can go and be entertained and enjoy the traditions and cultures without a door charge. It is all free entertainment – and something that we would most certainly never experience in Australia. Yep, you have to come all the way to Japan to see this! I hope I have tempted you now!

Lauren’s Birthday Bash

Just recently, it was Lauren’s birthday, so there is no better way to celebrate a birthday in Japan other than to have a few drinks at home, then go out for the inevitable karaoke. We all had a fantastic time at Lauren’s party. There were lots of drinks to be drunk, lots of singing to be sung and lots of dancing to be performed. Once we hit the karaoke bar, we were all in for a give-it-your-best-shot night!

The best part of my night was the fact that I didn’t even have to ride to the karaoke bar. As we were one bike short, I got the privilege of being dinkied all the way to and from the karaoke bar. Shinya was kind enough to do all the work and ride us both there!


Out of all people, I am most certain that the birthday girl herself, Lauren, had the best time of all! She got right in the partying spirit and sang for most of the night. I’m sure she is still reminiscing about how much fun she had that night!

Karaoke…


…MORE karaoke…


…and MORE karaoke!


Tina, Steve, Lauren, me, Shinya and Taro all up for a good, fun night at the karaoke bar.

Amanohashidate

Amanohashidate is a place in the country-side of Kyoto which contains one of the three most beautiful views in Japan.

This particular view is so unique because it is a strip of land in the middle of the ocean that looks like it is floating above the water, hence its name. Amano- meaning sky, hashi- meaning bridge and date- meaning floating.

When you look at it upside down (you have to bend over and put your head between your legs) you can actually see that it looks like it is floating above the water.

We went up the chair lifts to get a good view.

The chairlifts were a little scary and unsafe because it was just a small chair connected to a pole which was connected to a wire which pulled you up the mountain. The chair didn't have a chain to strap you in, so if you moved too much in the chair, you could easily fall out. It was very peaceful and relaxing though because everyone was quiet and there was classical music playing as you got pulled up the mountain on this chair.

There was also a really cool bridge that moves when ships go past it. It looked really nice and definately photo worthy!


I took some nice photos of Amanohashidate. The weather was perfect and the sky was blue, so I got some nice photos of the blue sky against the land and the water.


I even rode in the small kiddy ferris wheel because I wanted to get a better view. I was really glad I went on the ferris wheel!

I think Amanohashidate is a beautiful place and definitely worth visiting, considering it has one of the most beautiful views in Japan. It was so peaceful and enjoyable. There were so many people on the day we went because it was such a beautiful day.

Shiga Prefecture – Makino

On the weekend, I went to Makino.

Makino is a town that is beside Lake Biwa (the largest lake in Japan). It is in the country-side and there are many hills and mountains in the town. I stayed in Satoshi’s holiday home and it was so cool! In the morning, we headed out to hike up the Mt Mikuni. The beginning was really steep and difficult, but once we past the hard bit, the rest wasn’t so bad. It was a beautiful day for hiking as there was a little bit of wind so we were able to keep cool.


On our way up the mountain, I was in the lead and all of a sudden, a really scary looking snake slithered past me. It had its head up and it looked like there was a spiky thing on it. It looked really angry that we had disturbed its slumber. Thank goodness it didn’t try to strike us, but instead, it hid in the bushes until we passed. As soon as everyone saw the snake, they all hid behind me! What was I going to do if it came towards me? Later I found out that the snake we saw was an extremely poisonous snake that can kill small children and elderly people. Pretty scary, huh? Thankfully we were ok!

We continued on our journey when we came to a bush that contained little red berries. I wanted to try one, but I wasn’t sure if they would be safe to eat. Yuki assured us all that they were ok to eat, so we all tasted one. They were really delicious!


The view from the top of the mountain was spectacular. I got a good view of Lake Biwa from the top and it was really beautiful. I am really glad I climbed that mountain.




On the way down, we took a different route.

It was so beautiful climbing down the mountain being amongst the greenery of the trees in the forest. I took so many photos because I loved being there. Hiking is so much fun because everywhere you go is different and unusual and beautiful. I love nature!

In Autumn, a plant that commonly grows in the mountains is called susuki.

It is furry up the top and feels nice to touch. There were so many susuki plants in the mountain that we climbed. They looked amazing!

This was my fifth hiking expedition in Japan so far.

My next hiking trip will be in Sepico. Apparently it is a little more challenging as in some parts you have to use a rope and chain to pull yourself up the mountain. It should be fun and I’m really looking forward to it!

Akashi

Akashi is a small town in the Hyogo Prefecture, but it has a really beautiful castle and a nice garden surrounding the castle.

I walked through the Akashi Castle’s garden and it was really peaceful and relaxing. This was the lake that was near the castle.


There were also some cute turtles that I spotted swimming and talking to each other.


After walking around the castle, I went to the Planetarium where you can learn about the planets, the solar system and the universe.

In one of the rooms, it had pictures of al the star signs and they were so beautiful that I took a photo of my own star sign – virgo. I went inside a large, circular room and was able to see all the star formations in the sky and the sun slowly moving in the sky turning day into night. The chairs were really comfortable as they were reclining chairs and I felt so relaxed that I actually fell asleep! I wasn’t the only one though, there were about five men behind me all snoring their heads off while the school children were cracking up laughing at them!

I also tried Akashiyaki. This is like takoyaki (octopus balls), but it is specific to Akashi. I had a bad experience with takoyaki at the Osaka Castle once, so they didn’t quite taste as good as I thought they would, but I’m sure that I would have enjoyed eating them if I hadn’t had a bad experience in the past!

I’m glad I visited Akashi because it is the sort of town that could get forgotten as it is on the way to Kobe and Osaka by train. It is a beautiful town though and worth a look!

Kasai Flower Centre

On Mum and Dad’s last day in Himeji, Makoto was nice enough to take the day off work to show them around. I also took the day off to go with them.

He took us to a place called the Kasai Flower Centre. It was similar to the Botanic Gardens, but the flowers that we saw were ones I have never seen before. It was a really cool place, and I wish we could have spent a little longer there because it was so nice.

It was pretty hot that day, so Makoto, Mum, Dad and I decided to sit down and have a rest and eat an icecream before continuing!


These are the best flowers in the entire garden. I love these flowers and I have never seen flowers like this before. They were so beautiful that they didn’t even look real!


This is Makoto and I being silly trying to see what we would look like with long, green hair!


Mum posing in front of the flowers.


Dad posing in front of the greenery.


Mum and Dad really enjoyed their last day in Himeji thanks to Makoto showing them around a beautiful garden. It was good to spend an extra week with them after their trip to Europe because we got to see some amazing photos and some funny stories about their travel experiences overseas. I am positive they enjoyed their time overseas both in Europe and in Japan.