A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Kanan school festival was such a cultural experience! One that requires more than just words to describe. That is why in this post I will have mostly pictures and videos and just a little bit of explanation in between (you might need to turn your volume up on your computer, the sound is a little poor quality).

My entire school has been spending the last two weeks (maybe more but I wasn't involved until then) preparing for our school festival. I have never experienced anything like this and had no idea what to expect- I was not disappointed!

*I must first explain that at my high school there are three grades: 1, 2, and 3- 1 being the youngest (equivalent to sophomores) and 3 being the oldest (seniors!). Within these grades there are about 9 classes with about 40 students in each class. I am in the first class in grade 2, or 2-1. At the school festival every class had either a performance or some type of booth that they were in charge of creating. My class created a couple of dances and a little magic show for our performance.

Anyways, back on topic. I will break up the two days of festival and explain as much as I can but there is definitely way to much to be able to cover everything, sorry.

Pre- Festival

On Saturday, August 8, 2012 I arrived at school at 8am to this sight! This is a bright and beautiful welcome sign at the entrance to my school. The students put on the entire festival and family, friends, neighbors, etc are welcome to come and enjoy.

 The girls in my class getting all dressed up and prepared for the festival. It turns out that all dress codes about makeup and hair styles don't apply to this festival. People really go all out in dressing up for this.

 Every class has a class shirt that they must wear except when they are actually performing, then you can change into a different costume if you have one. Each class designed their own shirts and they were all very unique and fun to see. In this picture it is Saho (my friend) and I from 2-1 with some guys from 2-2 showing off our class shirts.

 During the school festival it is apparently a big time to take as many pictures with all of your friends as you can.

 Friends from my class.

Friend from class 2-3.

Opening Ceremony

Every student is required to attend the opening ceremony, which is prior to the official start of the festival when the public can arrive.

*Note all of the class shirts- must sit in a row with your class during the ceremony.

 

This is part of the opening ceremony. Sorry that it is hard to here but basically it is motivation and pep from the Kanan Ninjas- so just something fun for the students. I believe each ninja represents a different aspect of Kanan.

Then the Principal gave a little speech and there was this last dance performance.

They finished off the dance with fans. Very Japanese!

Free Time

 After a little confusion as to why my class was just sitting around in the classroom I found out that we had free time the rest of the day to just enjoy the festival- my class didn't perform until the second day. So I left and wandered alone for a bit.

 On my way out onto the grounds to look around I ran into the Kanan Ninjas (not sure where the blue ninja was but that's okay, 4 out of 5 isn't bad).

 Each class had to create a poster board to show what their class' theme was. My class is the Mickey poster on the left. There is also a High School Musical and Toy Story Poster next to ours that I thought were pretty good. It was raining so they are covered but you can get the idea.

 I got a free fan designed by the art club at our school (I think...). I chose this fan because it has Aka Tombo on it- Red Dragonflies. Aka Tombo is interesting to me because one of the first mornings I was in Japan I heard music playing outside, apparently the garbage trucks all play the famous Japanese song "Aka Tombo" as they drive around and pick up trash. I also liked this fan because I would like to believe that the green semicircles are tambo (rice fields)- Tambo not to be confused with Tombo... I did when I first learned those words!

The back of my fan says "Special Generation"

 Wadaiko

 Wadaiko, or Japanese drums, was the first performance I watched at the school festival.

 They were very good and I really enjoyed watching them.

 I will hopefully be joining this club soon. I'll go to see a practice tomorrow.

My friend from class, Michi, is the second from the left.

So intense looking! They are rotating players but continuing to play at the same time!

Made a couple of friends during the performance. I don't remember his name but I saw him a couple more times throughout the school festival. It turns out he is a third year (senior).

She is in my grade just a different class.

My favorite drum routine they did.

Wandering
After the wadaiko I had more empty free time so I wandered and ran into some more friends and took more pictures.

 Haru and me- Haru was the first Japanese person (not an exchange student) to give me a hug!

 I have no idea who this is but it kind of shows how dressed up some girls get.

 Nachu and me- shes so cute with her hair piece and sparkles. She made the flower head piece herself!

Saw the Koto group setting up on our way to lunch.

Lunch

 We went to 2-4 classroom for curry (I have decided it is definitely my favorite food, it is soooo good) and a show!

 CURRY!

 Me and my friends waiting for another show to start as we eat our curry.

One of the dances we saw.

The second dance we saw. He was a better dancer than the first group... unfortunately there was some music malfunction and his dancing was cut short.

Michael Jackson
After lunch I went and watched some more dancing performances. The costumes were all very interesting but as my host mom had previously explained to me most Japanese don't like to dance... they were a bit stiff (but I am not judging because I cannot dance either). There was one class though that danced to two Michael Jackson songs that was very entertaining to watch.

 Guys in skirts...

 Guys dressed to look like girls...

 Wigs, skirts, and all...

 Thriller dance! I enjoyed it.

The man in the pink is a teacher at school, pretty funny.

Tea Ceremony
I attended my very first tea ceremony!

 I am not of fan of the sweets... but then again when have I been known to like sugary things anyways. The flower sweet was specially chosen by the girls in Tea Ceremony club. It is a bean paste that I am sure is quite a delicacy to most but it was a bit sweet for me. It was a unique taste that I am glad I at least tried.

 The actual ceremony was very interesting to watch- so precise and the room was silent.

 The tea was super green... I was a bit hesitant to drink it but I actually really liked it. I was told that this type of tea is a delicacy special for tea ceremony. This tea was a powder when normally it is a leaf but it was still special.

 Me with the tea ceremony club and my friend Tomo.

The Next Day
The next day was essentially the same things. I took a lot of pictures with friends, watched some plays (Corpse Bride and Alice in Wonderland), ate a lot of food, etc.

 The big event for the day, though, was my class' performance! It went really well.

 Everyone had fun.

 No one forgot to jump at the right time.

 People enjoyed our Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Captain Hook, and magic tricks theme.

 Last song!

 My class had 4 songs we danced to: Disney- Cool The Heat (Part 1), Thriller, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Cool The Heat (Part 2). We also had a magic show in the middle of doing our dances.

Our grand finale- streamers and all.

 Class picture. We are so cute!

After our class performance we had more free time so I watched my baseball friends dance (the guys in the front row are my friends).

 I then got a picture with them.

Closing Ceremony

 My class' row as we waited for the ceremony to begin. The closing ceremony itself consisted of awards to the classes with the best poster, dance, performance, etc. Unfortunately my class did not win anything but it was still fun.

 Then the third years had a final performance where they lined the walls, circling the rest of us in the middle of the gym.

 They turned out the lights and danced/sang to a couple of songs- they had glow in the dark bracelets on so it was pretty cool looking.

One of the songs they "sang" to was "We Are The World". I could sing along with this song and it was pretty funny listening to the other students sing at some parts then just make noises to the rhythm of other parts. Oh English!

The festival was amazing and I am glad I got the opportunity to take a part in it!

Sayonara from Osaka, Japan.