Last year we had a visitor for Japan day. Cathy was in Japan and splitting her time between Nin Jitsu training in Chiba and staying with us in Minami Azabu. As we only had one yukata (Will's) and Cathy had limited clothes with her, She wore the outfit and I just wore red and white, the colours of the Japanese flag (Will was sick that day so he didn't need an outfit).
This year I made far more of an effort. Months ago I had been taken to an area called Nippori in the north of the city, which is traditionally the area where fabric traders would gather. The old areas have pretty much continued in Tokyo which is nice, and now it is full of shops selling fabrics of all kinds, luxury ones and bargain basement ones, and others that sell buttons and beads and leather and anything else you can think of. There are sewing machines buzzing away on the street (the first time I went there was one going on an automatic setting outside a shop - it was embroidering mickey mouse onto a sheet!) and bicycles everywhere. It feels a bit surreal to be walking around there, and they still follow odd merchant holidays, so it can be difficult to know when to go. I was taken there the first time by the part-time needlework teacher from school, who spends the rest of her time running her own business making Kimono and Obi (the belt part). As well as finding fabrics, she looks for second hand things that she can use. We went into a tiny little shop that sold second hand kimono. Most of them were really expensive, but they were so pretty, and we were wandering along all the aisles having a look and admiring all the colours and patterns. I pulled one out which was the most beautiful pale blue, with embroidered delicate pink and green flowers on it. When I looked at the price I couldn't believe it, it was only about £15! I tried it on and it fitted too (unusual in a country where most women seem to be built like small boys). The others said I should snap it up - so I did. I didn't manage to find an Obi quite so easily though.
So This Japan day I decided to wear my Kimono. It takes a lot of effort to get into them, and I didn't have an Obi, so I arranged to meet Priya at school early so she could help me and lend me a fake one. Unfortunately it was bright red with black and yellow criss-crossing lines - didn't go at all with my pretty delicate colours! But the Japanese staff were saying that it really doesn't matter, in fact most Japanese people don't think about getting colours to blend like westerners do (and I just thought there were a lot of people with bad taste!). I made a special effort and put my hair up into a bun and wrapped a pretty beaded strip around it, and I wore the sandals Sarah got for my birthday which everyone said were fantastic. But I still had to put on the Kimono.
We did our best to get me in, and it worked for a while, but everything has to be painfully tight, and I was slipping. I found it so funny that every western teacher who passed me said "oh, you look so good!" and every Japanese teacher gave me a thoughtful expressions and tried to adjust me in some way. In the end I had most of the Japanese department around me trying to tie me up, until they realised I didn't have one of the things I needed to stay tied and sent me off the the AV room. This is where groups of mothers come in on Japan day especially to help the kids into their kimono, and they are experts. They took one look at me and started all over again! Eventually I was trussed up, and the parents were saying if I slipped again I should go and find their daughters who would do it again!
I couldn't lean back for the rest of the day, and could only take tiny tiny steps. One of the English women who is married to a Japanese man, told me over the years she has developed quite a feminist view about Kimono being a tool for the oppression of women, and she was disappointed when her daughter wanted one for coming of age. I was definitely a little uncomfortable, but I think it is nice that Japanese women still want to wear them for special occasions. It is part of their history, and so much of the culture is being blended and westernized that it is good to have a way to be really Japanese again occasionally. Anyway, they look amazing on people who have the right shape!
In the morning there are three sessions where everyone can do mini-courses about many things Japanese. This year I did Kanji cross stitch (I picked a kanji I thought looked pretty and then sewed spring cherry blossoms around the edge - someone told me later I had sewn the character for Autumn. Oops) and a sort of monochrome painting which I can't remember the name of. I was not great at that, although I did do a good pine tree. But not much else!
I enjoy Japan day the most at lunchtime. The Kindergarten and Junior school work for weeks before hand practising Bon Dances (usually danced in August at the Obon festival) and then they perform them for the whole school outside in the courtyard in the sunshine. After they have danced, anyone can join in as they go round again. It is so much fun to try, and even better to watch them all trying to copy the leaders and do all the moves when they are looking so pretty and all dressed up. In the afternoon, there was a more professional display of traditional dancing. It wasn't a patch on Last years troupe of Taiko drummers, but it was still very good.
The kids get to go home early, and then all the teachers have a party. I did have to get out of the Kimono by that time. But by next year I am going to get an Obi of my own and do it properly!
