August 16th/2005 marks the last day of Bon Festival in Obihiro and the last day of my first year in Japan. It's been a really exciting year and Sean and I have learned so much about our home away from home. There certainly have been many times where we thought our heads would explode from frustration a la "cultural differences" but we've managed to figure out most things thrown our way.
There is definately a time, a place and a costume for everything here. There are many rules that nobody tells you about. It is vital that you do your best at everything to the point where you're "tired" from the effort. When it comes to having fun I thought "well this can go one of two ways"...
#1 Fun will either be too structured to be any fun at all.
or...
#2 Everyone will totally let their hair down and get it on proper like!
Luckily for everyone of this "small island nation" the later is true. When "fun" is on the agenda Japanese folks know how to do it up right! Everything from after hours office parties to kids at summer camp equals fun to the max and beyond.
I took our camera for a walk on my last day of my first year and took many photo's of all kinds of folks having fun. The main street of Obihiro was completely shut down to traffic all day. I stopped at a few venues to check out a singing competion and a then a dancing competion. Both were amazing, the teams were comprised of mostly seniors with a few little kids and young adults. There were many talented performers decked out in beautiful costumes and everyone was having fun even though they looked a wee bit nervous just before their time was up to perform. After watching the dancing I was drawn to a big crowd of folks about a block away. Everyone was sitting in a circle around 2 street performers. This crowd would make any North American busker green with envy. I'd say the youngest member of the crowd was about 2 months old and the oldest looked about ready to accept their centarian award. Fun was being had by all in a big way. The performers were tireless and very, very entertaining. I stayed for the whole show. I took many photo's of the crowd and the two funny guys and left feeling very happy that fun is what it is here in Japan.
