One Month Anniversary

Hi, friend. Hope you're well. By now it's been quite a while since we last caught up - over a month, in fact!

It's pretty crazy to think that I've lived in Japan for a month already. It still feels like I'm fumbling around in Week Two, forgetting which school it is that I have to order lunch boxes by 9:30am, whether the 7:24 train is my Thursday to Kurashiki or my Friday to Yakage, and which of the dozens of teachers is Nakada-sensei. And which class Nakada-sensei teaches. And whether I team-teach that class with him. (Actually, Nakada-sensei is an inappropriate example; I teach first graders with him at my base school on Mondays and Wednesdays, and he looks like a grump but has fantastic comedic timing. His weapon of choice is the Dad Joke.) 

Now that it's officially almost Week Seven, I'd like to share with you some things I've learned so far.

1. I was right to cherish the karaage (fried chicken, quite on par with The Colonel's) I discovered in one of my very first obento (bento lunch boxes). I imagined life would be pretty sweet if I'd be getting very safe, very tasty fried chicken every day for lunch. I've had it again only once in the five weeks since - every other day is cold, pickled things, rubbery marinated mushrooms, questionable jellied things (often black in colour), and lots of kelp. Lots and lots of kelp. I can no longer bring myself to be happy to see fish in there; there have been too many instances of needing to extract bone fragments from my mouth, having unpleasantly crunched down on what I'd carefully inspected and decided (obviously wrongly) was a safe, boneless fillet. Fish are definitely not friends. Needless to say, I'm hanging out for a regular old sandwich.

If anyone's curious, that purple thing in the middle was a sticky rice sweet, and it was actually delicious.

2. Japan's summer is much, much worse than anything you can prepare for. There has been literally - literally - one day where the constant 32 degree, 88% humidity temperature has broken, and it was last Friday. I thought Autumn had finally rolled around, because it was 23 degrees and there was fog over the mountains that curl around Yakage Town. I was so excited. But alas, my joy was short-lived. It was almost immediately back up into the thirties again with no foreseeable cool change, at least for the next week. Japan's humid summer is a perpetually sweaty, exhausting, and excessively bug-filled affair. The number of days I've had to struggle through the front door, peel my clothes off my swollen, sticky skin (not an exaggeration), and sleep with the air con on is bordering ridiculous. It's seriously disgusting - and I don't even usually sweat back home, on the worst of days! I'll take Australia's dry, cloudless 40 degree total fire ban summers any day.

Japanese summer: 1, Meg's hair: 0.

3.  Eating at home without being able to read Japanese is going to continue to be a really difficult time. People joke about the impossible selection of soy sauce in the supermarket aisles, but that's nothing to laugh about. Figuring out ingredients - figuring out anything - in Japan is bloody impossible, even if you can read basic hiragana and katakana (the two easy Japanese alphabets). You've got no hope without any kanji (the supremely complicated Chinese characters). My favourite section in the supermarket is the fresh fruit and veg, because you can damn well see exactly what it all is, so you can just shove what you want in a bag and be confident it's not going to unexpectedly taste like something other than it should. I've yet to be really brave with home cooking. Sometimes I can't even be sure I can cook a packet mix in case I've misread the instructions. It's a frustrating time, in short.

4. It's unlikely I'll be temple-hopping every weekend. Actually, if this first month has been any indication, it's unlikely I'll even have many proper weekends at all. So far my 'weekends' have been jammed with school-related responsibilities and events. This past weekend was my first completely school-free weekend, and naturally I woke up on Saturday with a bad cold and was bed-ridden for the whole damn thing. Considering I've been here six weeks, I've done an abysmal amount of sightseeing - even locally. I'm going to have to be careful not to let all my spare time get clogged up with school stuff I've committed to weeks ago in my bright-eyed enthusiasm to support the students. This job has already proven to be startlingly demanding (I say 'startling' because there have been a lot of additional pressures on top of what I was reasonably prepared to be handling in this position), and I imagine it will become exhausting and toxic very quickly if we let ourselves get snowed under.

I stepped off the train into a glorious Okayama afternoon one day.

5. The novelty of being the only Westerner in town is starting to wear off. Personally, this brings with it a huge sense of relief, though I do like being cheerfully greeted in the hallways by students who seem to have forgotten overnight that I exist, and who are delighted to re-discover me each morning. It's weird and uncomfortable going about daily life, doing totally normal things like walking to the supermarket or posting a letter, or riding my bike to school, and being openly stared at by all the locals. All of them. Oddly enough, I've found that the elderly tend to be the most likely to break into a grin and stop you for a chat if you greet them politely in Japanese. Maybe they're just too old for prejudiced bullshit. Middle aged men straight up stare for extended periods of time. The most unfriendly, surprisingly, are young to middle aged women, who always cast their eyes down if they catch my gaze. It's very common to see them purse their lips tightly and hurry away, like I'm sin incarnate. I'm sensitive to local customs and expectations, so I'm careful not to accidentally dress or behave inappropriately. I can only put it down to their not being comfortable with my invasive existence as a foreigner. Coming from a place as multicultural as Melbourne, it's still a little jarring each time I'm snubbed, especially if I smile at them. But there's nothing I can do about it, so I just figure it's their loss and move on.

6. We're probably never going to be in a truly comfortable place with teaching. If I'm not wishing I could bash my head against the table for 45 minutes rather than give my self-introduction lesson for the 23rd time (I honestly have that many 'first classes' across my four schools), I'm sitting up until midnight, furiously creating lesson plans I'm terrified the students will hate, then lying awake with anxiety until 1:30am dreading the next day, and heading to school at 7:30 like a damn zombie each morning. The actual teaching day always goes smoothly and enjoyably at each school, but unfortunately that doesn't stop the gut-wrenching anxiety from rocking around the next week. Our predecessors and other ALTs have given us plenty of wonderful advice, like trying to keep the communication lines with the JTEs (the actual English teachers) as open and clear as possible, but our fundamental inexperience means we're probably all jelly-legged every single Monday when we have to test our newest lesson on the first class of the week. I've been trying to combat this perpetual state of panic by preparing for all the worst case scenarios at each school a week in advance, and being unnecessarily over-prepared at all times. At least it decreases the likelihood of forty disapproving teenagers staring expectantly at me for 45 minutes.

Have a rare, unexpected photo of me teaching my self-intro lesson. Don't expect to see many more.

7. Speaking of keeping the communication lines open with the JTEs... it's extremely difficult to figure out what your relationship is like with your supervisors and teachers. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly, but I'm largely left to my own devices, and a lot of the teachers are alarmingly busy 150% of the time. This did not come as a shock to me; I was prepared for how insanely demanding the actual teachers' jobs are over here. I mainly just try to stay out of everyone's way and not have too many questions that need answering. My supervisor at my base school whirlwinds in and out all the time. She always looks a little stressed even though she's extremely cheerful and supportive. I'd heard that it's unusual for your Japanese co-workers to give you much feedback (if any), but it's still a little disconcerting when you leave class and walk back to the staff room with them, and nothing is said except to comment cheerily on the weather (see above, and you might be able to imagine some of my reactions). So far I've been going with the 'no news is good news' thing - either that, or literally forcing feedback out of them. My supervisor frequently contacts me late at night about important things in quite a no-nonsense manner, so I often worry if I've annoyed her or done something wrong in one of my lessons. But then she pulls the rug from under my feet by sending me Shaun the Sheep stickers on messenger when she says goodnight. At least I'm never bored, I suppose.

My supervisor at my base school.

8. No matter how long I'm here, I will always get an uncomfortable icy feeling in my stomach when a Japanese colleague brings up controversial elements of Japanese history. It's only happened twice that I can recall, but I know it's going to happen again. You really can't prepare for it, either; it just comes out of the blue. You'll be having a totally relaxed, easy going chat about whatever, then someone will suddenly drop the Japan-Korea relationship, or the 'misrepresentation' of Japan's history in Western schools. So you mentally strap yourself in and brace yourself for what could be an intensely unpleasant conversation, especially when one accidental mis-step could result in that co-worker disliking you for all eternity. I just tread as delicately as possible, listening with rapt attention and saying very little. So far, it seems they want to educate me rather than engage in an intellectual discussion, and I'm happy to play dumb if it means I'm not going to step on anybody's toes. 

9. True independence and self-sufficiency has meant that I am the most content I have been in my adult life. Living in Japan is sometimes surprisingly effortless and sometimes the most frustrating challenge, but every day I am thankful for the opportunity to be one hundred per cent in control of my life for what feels like the first time ever. Maybe it is actually the first time ever. My apartment is pretty old, and bunged up in places, but it's mine and I love my space. I love the quiet and the isolation. I'm not a huge people-person, and I think I'm my most calm, stress-free and comfortable when I'm alone. That's not to say I don't miss my family and my friends, because I definitely do. I'm ludicrously excited for the day Shane tells me he's booked flights to come and visit me. And I talk to my closest buds every single day. I do think I'd go a little loopy without them. But on the whole, sometimes the relief of being on my own is so overwhelming that I nearly start crying in random places - often when I'm riding my bike at sunset and there's nothing for miles but the peachy sky, dusty clouds and endless rice paddies sighing in the breeze (albeit sweltering; don't get too swept up in the romantic imagery). I'm pretty happy right now.

Peaceful moments.

10. I was wholly, tragically unprepared for the season three finale of Downton Abbey. It's been days and I can't bring myself to go back to the show yet. I'm still reeling. It's still not okay. Someone please reach out to me if you know what I'm talking about and promise me it gets better. My heart hurts too much. 

So that's it! Ruminations from the one-month-anniversary mark. More to come soon. x

The Mad Dash to Osaka

Last week I received an unexpected message from a friend in Melbourne, who was about to depart for Seoul, and coming to Osaka a few days after that. The long weekend was approaching, and I'd originally wanted to go away somewhere, but had had to cancel those plans when one of my students entered a speech contest being held on the Saturday. My mate Ant and his friends were landing in Osaka on Sunday afternoon, and were keen to catch up for drinks. Osaka is a 45 minute shinkansen (bullet train) from Okayama Station (on the San-yo line, if anyone is interested) so it was an extremely tempting offer. 

However, there was the small, concerning issue of the impending Typhoon Talim, which was scheduled to hit mainland Japan on Sunday morning. The gale force winds and torrential rainfall were expected to sweep up the country, disrupting public transport services all over the shop. I wasn't even sure Ant's flight would be able to land at Kansai Airport; we were worried their flight might be cancelled last minute. We kept an eye on the meteorological developments as the days progressed, but I didn't book tickets because it was looking likely that the whole thing wasn't even going to be possible.

Saturday's speech contest in Okayama City came and went. My student from Yakage High School did an absolutely amazing job. She was incredibly nervous the day before; we arranged a meeting after school to practise together and gave her some tips and advice on audience engagement and presentation style, etc. She was working very hard on memorising her speech, and the cost of that was being able to deliver her speech animatedly. We were concerned, but it turns out we needn't have been. She was fantastic. She didn't make any mistakes, she looked comfortable and smiled a lot, and the audience chuckled sometimes - hers was the only speech that inspired a response from the audience. It helped that she's just about the cutest little button I've ever met. Her face evokes the same 'aww' feeling as bunnies and puppies. She didn't make it through preliminaries, but I am so, so proud of her for even wanting to give it a go. She was competing against some extremely high achieving academic schools, and she nailed it.

My supervisor from Yakage and I suddenly had a free afternoon, so we were headed into Okayama City when we stumbled upon a tiny home that had been converted into an okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancake) restaurant, operated by the nicest little old couple. The entire place consisted of two low tables on a raised tatami level, where customers sat cross-legged on flat cushions, and a small bar that could seat about four. Behind the bar was the hot plate where Grandma cooked the okonomiyaki, a shelf of Japanese sake bottles, and an old TV set to a channel for midday viewing. When we arrived it was playing a Japanese comedy game show. When we left it was playing the Japanese equivalent of Getaway. We were welcomed in warmly and ushered to one of the low tables, where we sat and ate the most enormous home-made okonomiyaki I've ever seen, drank beer and sake at midday, and (in my case) snoozed and chatted with our hosts. It was utterly delightful and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Lunch with my supervisor at Yakage Town.

Sunday morning dawned astonishingly beautiful. Blue skies, fluffy white clouds. Confused, I checked the weather forecast. Unfortunately Talim had not disappeared, but his scheduled arrival had been pushed back to the evening. My supervisor helped me check whether the shinkansen and local lines were operating (they were), and I checked in with Ant & co., who were on track to board their flight. All of a sudden it was definitely still possible, but there was only a small window of opportunity for me to make it to Osaka before the train lines stopped operating at lunch time. I decided to risk it. I rode like a demon on my flat-tired bike (so it was very difficult and slightly painful) to the station, threw some money at my friends who work the bike parking lot, and literally ran to make one of the last trains out. I was on the 12:12; the trains stopped around 12:45. Cut it a little too close for comfort.

Luckily, the shinkansen was largely still in operation when I arrived in Okayama City. Since I left late morning the bullet trains connecting Honshu and Kyushu had stopped, which meant the storm was creeping swiftly up the mainland from the southwest. I was heading east towards Osaka, and the storm was crawling east behind me. So it really was quite an adrenaline-filled race against the storm. I came out victorious, though. The shinkansen whisked me away, and I arrived safely at Shin-Osaka station 45 minutes and 2 stops later, where the sky was deceptively beautiful still. Ant & co. were due to arrive around an hour or so later, so I killed time hanging around Osaka Station's Daimaru department store. Anyone who has been to Osaka will already know where this is going. Hint: Osaka's Pokemon Center is on the tenth floor.

Far too much money later, I caught the train to Namba, changed to the Sennichimae line, and hopped over to Sakuragawa station, where I met Ant & co. (and suitcases) about ten minutes later. We really could not have timed it better. It was late afternoon and the boys were knackered, so we adventured on foot until we found their Air B'n'B, hung out there for a while so they could all freshen up and change clothes, then stashed our windbreakers in a couple of backpacks (the extent of our typhoon preparation) and hit the Dotombori area for some celebratory Osakan street food and beverages. Photo dump alert. 

We were keen to try some recommended spots, so we started out with one of theculturetrip.com's (click me!) top ten restaurants for foodies looking for some top-notch local specialities (read: okonomiyaki and takoyaki). Creo-Ru didn't disappoint, either. It's smack in the middle of Dotombori, so you have an excellent stroll through the famously oversized crab and sushi decorations adorning the shopfronts, basking in the busy buzz of all the people on dinner missions. Atmospheric. 

For scale.

We were greeted by a ludicrously cheerful dude who impersonated an assortment of Australian animals before welcoming us inside, where we met his polar opposite: a perpetually grump-faced older lady who clearly hated a) her job and b) the constant influx of foreign visitors, and who showed us to our table. It was one of those cool Japanese systems where you order everything you want from an iPad. It's literally like online shopping. You browse the catalogue, add the items you want to your basket, and send your order to the kitchen by "checking out" and confirming your order. The wait staff bring your food as its ready, and you pay at the end. You even order all your drinks this way, which is how we totally underestimated the size of the large beer.

iPad order system.

Lol so many cameras. Cheers.

Takoyaki

Kushikatsu

Always more questions, Japan...

Okonomiyaki

A veritable feast (four different styles of okonomiyaki, twelve takoyaki, a huge kushikatsu - skewered meat and vegetables, battered and fried - platter and several drinks to kick start the night) later, it was off to visit Bar Moon Walk, a 200 yen bar the boys liked, where they hoped to recreate a photo snapped 5 years ago. First we took a quick detour to Family Mart for ice cream, because ice cream. Then Talim decided to hit. And boy did he hit hard. One minute it was a cheery pleasant evening, the next the rain was absolutely thundering down - with force. Those drops hit like bullets. We were half soaked literally within seconds, so we ducked under an awning and into an arcade to gather amongst a crowd of probably a hundred or so people and marvel/mourn the weather. The pre-packed windbreakers actually proved to be a god-send; we yanked them on and dashed back out into the fray to make the five minute journey to Bar Moon Walk. Running in the typhoon rain was actually fun and kind of exciting. 

Drinkable ice cream... a milkshake, basically.

Famous Glico "Running Man" neon billboard.

Bam. Typhoon.

But not quite as exciting as the unbelievably enormous menu of cocktails at Bar Moon Walk (that sweet segue). It's a tiny hole-in-the-wall sort of place, with a 400 yen (~$4) per head cover charge, but after that, the entire menu (over two hundred items, easily) is 200 yen (~$2) per drink. Granted, the serving sizes are noticeably smaller than in Australia, but it's still astounding value for money. We probably had three or four rounds, and each time we tried something different. We asked for heaps of the house specials and recommendations, which was fun. I had a lot of fruity things. One was peach flavoured. One was called "Ramune", which was a mix of banana liqueur, Blue Curacao and ginger ale. Can confirm, did taste exactly like Ramune (a fizzy Japanese soft drink). We tried some that tasted like oolong tea, blueberry yoghurt, matcha (milky, sweet green tea) - the options were insane. So that place was fun. Unfortunately one of the guys who had worked there when the boys last visited had moved on (fair enough; it was five years ago), but some of the others were pretty floored that Ant & co. had come back again, and were happy to snap a new photo. 

Cheers the Second.

New friends!

And it turned out the guy who'd left had opened his own bar a short walk away. So naturally it meant we next had to go and check his bar out, too. I can't remember the name of his place, but it was inside a multi-storey building, where we had to take the elevator up a few floors. It opened into a long, narrow corridor literally lined with tiny bars and lounges, each one seating maybe a dozen people and hidden away behind a single, noise-blocking door. Amazingly, the corridor was pretty much silent. I'm confident each of those bars was as rowdy as ours ended up being. The vibe was totally different in this one - he'd opted for the laid back, beachy vibe - but it was clearly a pretty popular place, as there were other people popping in and out the entire time we were there. The guy was fun and a bit of a sucker for the spotlight, but unfortunately he had zero recollection of the boys' photo ever being taken. He was cool though; he's crazy skilled at flipping bottles around and put on an awesome show for his patrons. At one point he had us clapping along to that Crazy Frog song and chanting for him while he magically poured a colour-changing beverage into six tall shot flutes. We nearly lost our minds when each shot was somehow a different colour and they'd all been poured from the same shaker. The whole night was pretty rad, really. 

Magic is real.

After a midnight visit to Yoshinoya (a fast food restaurant in Japan that specialises in cheap curries and rice bowls - kind of their equivalent to McDonald's) for a pit stop, we called it a night and made our way back to the boys' Air B'n'B. It was 3am by the time we traipsed in, and they were complete legends and let me crash on their fold out couch. The next morning was a slow, relaxed affair, and I ended up catching the shinkansen home just after lunch time. It was an extremely delightful short trip away, and I had the best time hanging out with the guys. I'd previously had serious beef with Osaka thanks to three unpleasant visits, but it has redeemed itself and now I'm very hype to return again soon. More to come! x

Thanks for visiting, friend!

High School Culture Festivals

It's been a while since I wrote something (whoops) - sorry about that! I'll get some more stuff up soon!

Culture festivals, or bunkasai over here, are a massive part of the Japanese school year. I'd argue that, besides entrance exams for the third years, they're probably the most important thing for students. The Culture Festival is a campus-wide showcase of student talents that goes for usually one day, often on a weekend. Families come and visit the school to support their kids, and the students put on loads of performances and shows. It's often a very tight schedule. The morning begins with an official opening ceremony including an address from the principal, then the second year classes (16 year old/year 11 students) put on stage performances, usually plays or musicals. Each lasts for twenty minutes, and they're all judged by a panel of staff, then one winner is chosen.

Lunch is usually snack stalls organised by the third year students (18 year olds/year 12 students), which sell popular, inexpensive Japanese festival foods - takoyaki (octopus meat deep fried in a round ball, with a sweet kind of dark sauce, mayonnaise and bonito flakes), yakisoba (barbequed noodles and vegetables in a special BBQ sauce), etc. Most culture festivals are in summer, and often have shaved ice and ice cream for sale too. The middle of the day is the time to wander around with your snack and have a look at the first year students' (15 year old/year ten students) classroom decoration competition. Students transform their classrooms into mazes, trick rooms, themed photo studios, giant games, etc. Again, a panel of judges will select the best room. 

The middle of the day is also when a lot of the clubs and societies will showcase their talents - choirs and dance teams will alternate performances in the quad, bands will play in the gymnasium, the tea ceremony club will be set up somewhere to demonstrate the fine art of the Japanese tea ceremony. By the middle of the afternoon, it's time to return to the gymnasium for the results announcement and the closing ceremony. Then the parents head home, the students and teachers do a frighteningly efficient sweep-clean of the school, and everyone heads home.

I've now been lucky enough to attend three of my four schools' Culture Festivals. It was actually a pretty intense time; my last three weekends have just been crammed with them, one after another. They're very exciting and exhausting days. But the students get so, so excited, and they're so much fun. 

My base school in Soja was hands down the largest festival. Theirs is called "Nanshousai" and it goes for two days. I had to take off Friday at my visit school in Yakage to attend the first day of the festival, because it's so important to the school. Some Australian exchange students had arrived in Soja the day before, so I spent the first day of the festival with them, exploring and enjoying. Nanshousai definitely had the largest, grandest and most impressive opening ceremony, with teams having a cheer-off, and each class performing a small skit while their class banner was unfurled. There were just so many classes at my base school; I didn't even work out on the day which class had won. There were a lot of competitions, too, and they read out all the results at once, so it was very difficult to follow. But the students throw so much effort into each challenge!

Banners designed and painted by students, one for each class.

The haunted house banner was the winning design. There were a lot of art course students in this class.

My base school has an excellent art program, so a highlight of Nanshousai was definitely the art exhibition on the fourth floor. I wandered around in there for ages.

Shout out to my VCD classmates. What a throwback.

I really loved this. I loved the careful detail the student put into the stone lantern.

This piece was selected as a poster design used to advertise a local summer festival.

The second day of Nanshousai, we were visited by one of Okayama's Prefectural Advisors, Moses, and another ALT from Takahashi called Tom. I met them at the school entrance and took them around for the day. Hilariously, all the female students excitedly asked if Tom was my boyfriend, and were disappointed to learn that we'd only met for the first time half an hour earlier, and that he was not my boyfriend. 

Tom and Moses (Se Se).

Super popular shaved ice desserts. Basically like a slushie.

DIY Instagrams are always super popular. This class transformed their home room into an "Under the Sea" themed room.

My face is always too small for these things.

Trying some special "Okayama Strawberry" ice cream. With Pocky. Everything has to come with Pocky, apparently.

One class did a kigurumi (onesie) photo booth room, even though it was 35 degrees and 90% humidity. Death.

The "Where's Wally?" themed room consisted of a giant human-sized board game, where you are the piece and you roll an enormous dice, and play quizzes and games when you land on certain squares. It was very well done. This classroom was the winner.

The students' chalk board art continues to be consistently amazing and adorable.

A cute Rilakkuma prize I won from the "Where's Wally?" room.

Saturday was the day all the dance and stage performances were happening, and twice as many family members attended compared to Friday, so Saturday was definitely the best day. The highlight from Nanshousai day two was definitely the dance performance in the gym. My base school's dance team is heavily trained and award-winning, so they are very skilled and professional dancers. They performed a wide range of styles, from jazz to hip-hip and contemporary. No tap, though, which I was hoping for! All their routines were amazing, and I was incredibly nostalgic for our dance comps in high school. I miss dancing!

My visit school in Soja had their bunkasai on a Sunday, and I was so wrapped up watching student performances that I completely missed the food stalls somehow. This school was the only school that had a choir performance, which was lovely. I haven't seen many choirs yet in Japan. It was stinking hot, though, which was a shame as many performances were out in the quad, where we all baked under the sun and got stuck to the benches. My visit school in Soja is also an academic school, but has an amazing arts course, including textiles and fine arts. The second year plays at this school were particularly great, and the third year fashion students showcased their final pieces, which was utterly mind blowing. The third years had made full on evening gowns. Big, poufy, gathered, ruched, twinkly ball gowns, in every colour imaginable. Some were satin or silk, or tulle. So finely detailed and carefully made. The white gowns could honestly have been worn as wedding dresses, they were so amazing. You could tell how much hard work had gone into them; the students modelled their gowns and many of them were crying on stage. Such a huge achievement. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos, so you'll just have to take my word for it. I was seriously stunned. The third year fashion show was definitely the highlight of the culture festival.

One class at my Soja visit school had a balloon art themed room.

More adorable chalk board art.

Under the Sea is a popular theme.

Just realising that I really didn't take many photos at the Soja visit school bunkasai. Whoops.

My visit school in Yakage was the very first bunkasai I attended, and it was actually my favourite of the three. It was a lot smaller than the other two schools, and it's in a rural town, but a lot of family members came along, so it was quite busy. Yakage's culture festival had a wide variety of things to do and eat. The second year plays at this school were my favourite so far. One class did an abridged version of Beauty and the Beast, which was cute. Another retold the famous folk tale of Momotaro. Another was a series of dances from an array of Disney movies, creatively using hand painted signs that flipped over and made pictures when all put together. One of the classrooms at Yakage had been turned into a cute second hand book sale, where I found a hardcover colour edition of one of my favourite underrated Ghibli movies (it's a children's book, so it will be great for practising reading Japanese). The third years at Yakage were in charge of the food stalls. One class sold ice cream with frosted flakes and Pocky. Another sold pop corn in colourful boxes. Another did takoyaki in cups. The students at Yakage were particularly high spirited - the most excited and cheerful of all the schools. For me, the general atmosphere at Yakage was the best. 

Preparing for the opening ceremony.

Takoyaki in a cup.

Students designed their own tickets, which you purchased from the stall and then exchanged for the food item of your choice.

Ice cream with frosted flakes... and Pocky, again.

I dunno what this series is, but it's super cute.

Panda-co-Panda picture book.

So cuuuuute.

Yuri! on Ice chalk board art. Not sure of the relevance, but still cute.

So that's it for today! The last bunkasai I will attend is my visit school in Kurashiki's, but there's is not until November. I feel so lucky to be able to participate in wonderful school community events like these, and am feeling extra grateful today for the JET Programme experience. More to come!