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Ohira Festival

The Japanese sure know how to party! They do it up right the old fashioned way. And when I say old fashioned I couldn't be more accurate. From traditional drummers to village men retelling the tales of the samurai in dance to the dance of the dragon, they bring the old ways into new light.

The children played bingo and won prizes, there was a drawing for many many prizes for the adults and tons of food. I was so taken in by all the entertainment that I almost forgot to eat lunch!


As we waited our turn to get dressed up in the traditional garbs of Japan we witnessed the making of green tea by some of the ladies of the village. The tea is made from powder and not leaves. It is much stronger this way and doesn't leave stuff at the bottom of your bowl. Here she is adding the hot water to the powder.


Little appetizers were passed out as the tea was being made (she made it one bowl at a time). I don't know what they are called and Luke was having a little bit of difficulty understanding the old man who was describing the tea ceremony to him. All I know is you cut them with the stick and then spear the pieces with the stick to eat them.


There wasn't much to the flavor despite the colorful appearance. The texture was very soft and kind of doughy. And that's basically what they tasted like but they sure were pretty!

The tea, once prepared, was the prettiest shade of green you have ever seen. The liquid its self was a deep pine green with a foamy green over the top (pictured above) and tasted amazing. As you receive the bowl of tea you turn it three times to the right, and when giving it back you turn it three times to the left. Nothing homier than drinking a fresh ground bowl of tea!


Then it was time to get dressed up! Yeah, you see that right! It took three ladies to get Luke dressed! Don't feel too bad for him. It took four to get me dressed! There are lots of layers.

Luke the final product.


Us together! You can stop laughing any time!


We met lots of the students that Luke would be teaching. Everyone in town was at this festival. Here are some of the girls from the Junior High with Luke. You should have heard them giggle when Luke told them that we were married. Think of the most innocent, girliest giggle you can imagine....yeah like that!

The night ended with awesome fireworks over the park. I think there are fireworks at like every event and festival! They really like those fireworks.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Such fun reading about your first few days..............................we really did enjoy the picture of you two all dressed up.

Love you two, Grama and Grampa

Anonymous said...

I'm still trying to find words for the two of you dressed as you were!! And I'm still laughing. Sorry! Mom/cdj

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