And it does! Yesterday was Japan Day at school, time to dig out my Kimono and let some of the moms dress me because I have no idea (I felt a lot better about the situation when I realized half the Japanese department were in there too). In Hindsight, possibly I should have hung up my kimono a few days before, as I had a crease right down my bum that wasn't too flattering. Actually, the hole outfit is pretty unflattering. Kimonos were not designed for women with any kind of curves. I really like mine, it is such pretty colours, but I can't help feeling like a trussed chicken after a few minutes. Aja asked me if I felt like a sausage, but I had to say no. Sausages bend in the middle.
Japan day is nice because there are no usual classes. Instead there are mini-courses about Japanese culture. I did kanji cross-stitch and Japanese cookery. The cross-stitch was great fun, they girls who were running it (I am just in there to supervise, students or parents run most of the classes) put on a CD and just wandered around helping some of the younger ones. Most of the students were girls I teach and it was a lovely small group so we just chatted and sewed. We were given rectangular pieces of fabric to sew, and one of the girls asked if there were any designs for the word "book" or "reading". There weren't, but I got one of the Japanese speakers to write out the symbols and designed it for her, then I stitched it too because I thought it was such a good idea! So now I have a bookmark that says "book" on each end.
I had a break in the middle and went to watch some of the karate class. There was a big group of students from a local club, and they were demonstrating as well as teaching some of our girls a few moves. I had heard about the master's finale piece from the first group and wanted to see him do it. He took a baseball bat, painted so he couldn't even see the grain, and broke it with his hand. Unfortunately they only bought one bat so I didn't get to see it, but I watched some of the fighting for a few moments and then went to my next course.
I had been looking forward to the cookery class the most as it was one I hadn't done before (I took the kanji cross-stitch last year). It was being run by parents and when I walked in they thought I was a student. They were a bit mortified and very apologetic but I take it as a compliment! There were 7 moms in the room, and a class of 20 students, so there wasn't actually any space for me to join in with the cooking itself, I was just there as crowd control (unnecessary at ISSH) or in case of emergencies. There was supposed to be another teacher there so at least I would have had someone to chat to, but she bought her 2 year-old along and then left because he wanted to put his hands in everything. I am not entirely sure why he was there, but I was utterly bored for the next hour. I got a bowl of ice-cream and a pancake at the end, but I was disappointed!
Lunch on Japan day is Ennichi (mixed ticket) lunch. Parents cook all different types of Japanese food and dish it up in very small portions so you can try a bit of everything. I had some Japanese curry, yakisoba (noodles), corn on the cob, yakitori (chicken skewers with a sweetish sauce), mini bentos with rice and sweet egg and pork, sushi and edamame (cold boiled soybeans). It is hard to eat lots of bits in a kimono but somehow I managed!
Just after lunch the Junior school gather outside and do some Japanese festival dances that they have been practising. The rest of the school watches a couple and then they are all allowed to join in. Every year it has been lovely and sunny and the cherry blossoms are out around the edges of the playground, it is beautiful.
In the afternoon there is an assembly with entertainment. This year we had a group called Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko, an Okinawan style drum group who use more modern music and incorporate some karate moves in their act. They were amazing, so energetic and they had people of all ages, all incredible. A couple of the pieces had two guys in a lion costume with a big snappy mouth, and they were doing rolls and running around amongst the kids. Most of them loved it, although there were one or two of the really little ones who were scared, and once they got hugs from their teachers a few more followed! The men took the costume off at the end so they could all see that it was them, but the kindergarten teachers were completely body sheltering the kids so they never saw that bit and were still scared when they came out again. The first lion put his jaw around a few kids heads which went down well, and then picked up a little boy completely and dangled his legs around in the air for a while. The kids looked very giggly and pleased when he got out, so I wonder what they said to him when he was in there. For the very last dance they asked the students to get up and join in, and the lions got absolutely swamped, trapped in a crowd of children all trying to stroke or pat or tug at the costume! They didn't seem to mind too much.
Most years there is a party afterwards, but this year there wasn't one so we went to the pub instead. It was warm and pleasant and the perfect end to a lovely day. It wasn't too late a night as Will had to go back into work today for an event that the school organizes each year, The Kanto Plains Model United Nations. Each student is the delegate of a country (not their real country) and they have debates and research issues, and then in the afternoon they have an "emergency" that they have to sort out. Will does all of the AV stuff, but he also acts out the news correspondent for the emergency as though they are being shown in real time. Apparently some of the girls this year thought it was real, even though he was in the room with them as it was shown! They were discussing the North Korean missile situation so I suppose it was plausible at least.
The nice weather seems to have gone for now though. We have had another thunder storm tonight and rain is forecast tomorrow. I hope it doesn't wash away the cherry blossoms before I get a chance to go and see more of them! The avenue at the university gate is beautiful, and there is a tradition of having hanami parties, where you take a picnic and sit underneath the trees. If the forecast is wrong, that is the plan for tomorrow!
