Taga (多賀町) and the Mansai Matsuri

Even though I've written about the graduation, the adventure is not over yet! I plan on continuing this blog for a while, so don't give up on me now, folks! XD

Since our host parents couldn't have us spend the night that night, Alisa had asked her host family if it was alright if Alex and I spent the night at her homestay in Taga, a small town not too far away from Hikone. Alisa and our friend Scott went to go grocery shopping and planned to meet us at the station, and by the time the group of us who was going was ready, we were kinda all thinking screw it to walking to the station with all our bags, so Alex, Ivan, Lu, and I got a taxi together. At the station, we went to a different platform that I had never seen before that seemed old and creepy and seldom used XD. There was nothing automated there, and I had to figure out on the map how I would get to Taga and then give my money to the attendant behind the gate. It was the weirdest thing, waiting there, and eventually getting on the old looking train with lace and ugly Victorian seat coverings. I was at the same station, but after being surrounded by modernity for so long, this seemed so foreign. Even the people there seemed un-mondern, housewives with kerchiefs, salary men in suits... Anyway, after transferring trains and a bit of wandering being confused, we arrived in Taga, and I was greeted by this:

but more interestingly, this:

Yes, that song was playing. All day long. But actually it wasn't that annoying- probably if you lived right next to those speakers it would be, but Alisa's house was on a side road, so you couldn't hear it that well from over there, so when we were walking along the main street it was fun to dance to it XD. Maybe you can hear me say it in the video, but the music and the lanterns there were all for the festival that was to take place that night, the Mansai Matsuri. Now, I might be wrong about my information. I can't find anything on the internet about this festival, and so I only know what Alisa told me because of what her host parents told her, so if something is wrong, please correct me!

Anyway, since Ivan had visited Alisa's house before, he luckily remembered the way to her house. Along the way, some old, very difficult to understand Japanese people wanted to talk to me and Alex since they figured we must be friends with the American girl in the town. They didn't really notice Ivan or Lu since they are both Asian :P. We got to Alisa's house where Alisa's host parents and their friends were socializing while Alisa's 3 and 5 year old host siblings ran around. Essentially we were there as babysitters, since we seemed to be their new play things, which I got the notion was what Alisa usually had to do when she was there. Lu started cooking, and since I'm next to useless in a kitchen (as you may have been able to tell by the pictures of the meals I make myself, aka cup ramen), I played with Haru-chan and Ko-chan, the kids. Shortly after that, Alisa and Scott arrived. Alisa helped with the cooking while the 6 foot 5 Scott became the new jungle gym. Poor Scott. He is too nice to say no, so the kids literally were climbing all over him and making him lift and throw and spin them.

comically tall Scott with Haru-chan

         

        the cooking masters

       

making shaved ice

For dinner Lu made Cola fried chicken wings and Mapodofu, which is a really really really spicy tofu dish. It's the only way I can stand tofu, but it's too spicy for me :P. Alisa also made tacos and we had chips and salsa too. By the time we finished eating it was beginning to get dark, so all of us headed out towards the big shrine. I took several videos in which you can see what is happening and I explain things. Although we know from experience that the sound quality of these is awful, so I'll explain a bit more after.

Oh goodness, those videos took a long time to load. So anyway, I was told the lanterns are supposed to represent dead ancestors, and that is why the bon odori is preformed as the people walk to the shrine, in honor of the dead. The Bon Odori can vary from place to place, as can the song it's played to, but ultimately it is very similar to what you see and hear in the videos. The reason the groups are all dressed differently is because they represent different companies in the area. After watching the procession, we joined the sardine tin tight crowd in praying at the shrine, and enjoyed some music and entertainment and had fun doing shopping and whatnot. There was one thing though...
At one point, the gang of kids wanted to go to the main road to look at the food there, so Alex and I were going along, but we asked them to wait a second because Haru-chan wanted some shaved ice. In the short time it took us to get it, they were gone without giving us indication as to where they went. We walked Haru-chan back to her parents, but then Ko-chan wanted some shaved ice too. We took him down to get the treat, and when we got back to where his parents and their friends were....no one. Alex and I were doing our best not to panic, but as we wandered around the huge shrine grounds, the people were becoming fewer and fewer. Ko-chan didn't seem worried as all, he just went around contently eating his shaved ice, but Alex and I were not pleased. Apparently Alisa's family thought it was fine that as long as their five year old went with us somewhere, they were no longer in charge of him, and we can totally FIND OUR WAY BACK HOME. Because that's where they had gone, back home. We know this because eventually we made our way out of the maze that was the shrine and found the rest of the gang buying things on the street. We idoled around, waiting to see if Alisa's host parents would come out, and when they didn't, we went back. What if we hadn't even found Alisa? I had already asked them where she had gone to, so they knew we didn't know where she was...grr, whatever, I just hate being put into that kind of a situation, especially since they were just taking advantage of us as babysitters. But it's in the past, so it's not a big deal. Anyway, here are more pictures.

When we got home I was rather exhausted from several very busy days, that, and being a human jungle gym, but the kids just wouldn't go to bed! By 10:30, I was like "Ok, Mary needs to get to sleep now" XD. Alex, Alisa, and I settled down for our last sleepover, before heading out early in the morning for our penultimate destination.
 I'm going to add this part now afterwards, because Ivan said that I sound ungrateful since I talked mostly about just the negative story and only skimmed the good things. To clear up,  Taga was actually a lot of fun, and although I didn't write about everything we did at the house, it was really cool, like a mini party, and it was a great way to cheer up after the sadness of leaving our host families and friends we made at JCMU. The kids really adored us, and they were super cute- really tiring though. I know I couldn't play with them all day everyday like that, and I could see why Alisa already looked tired after just a short time since she went through that everyday XD. I think Alisa was quite lucky to have such a host family, since I know people who didn't have it nearly so good. It was actually really sad to leave them the next day, especially because when we missed the train, they drove the three of us to Hikone from Taga. Alisa tried to be cool about it, but we could see she was sad to leave them, and even her host dad was about to cry when they hugged goodbye. I was so thankful we were allowed to stay there, like I wrote in my previous post, and I'm sorry I didn't mention it more throughout this one. I'll try to be clearer next time, and speaking of next time, this story is to be continued... 

Mary

Location: mah beeed
Mood: hungry. huuuungryyyyy!
Listening to: Ryouhou for you - Ulfuls
Japanese for the day: だめ！dame! - NO!/ No good!/Don't do that please! >_< (especially useful when chastising obnoxious children **ahem ahem**)