My School's Culture Festival and Tanabata

I have now been living in Nishinomiya for 3 weeks. This means I only have 3 more weeks left. Time really does fly. I have become acclimated to my new home but the generosity of my host family continues to shock me daily. The meals that they cook and the relationship between each family member is crazy. Everyone is always happy and friendly. I believe this stems from the high level of respect that everyone holds for each other. This level of order and structure is one of the many reasons I love Japan.

For the last 3 months my whole school has been preparing for our Bunkasai which means Culture Festival. Each class chooses to do something for the two day celebration. My class chose to do a dance but other classes choose to cook takoyaki, churros, french fries, or sell ice cream, juice, or candy. Some classes performed plays or they decorated their classrooms into pictures taking areas or game rooms. In preparation for this 20 minute dance we had been practicing everyday at lunch. However it was all worth it because our dance ended up being better than any of the other classes who chose to do a dance.

The festival started on Friday so all the students were happy to not actually have to study that day. Everyone was so excited including myself. Our class had to perform our dance twice each day but I still had plenty of time to watch so many acts and do so many things. To see everyone having such a good time was heartwarming and made me so thankful for all the things I have in my life. The second day all the parents were allowed to come. This made the day even more crowded but still everything was very well organized. On the second day I got to watch the girls dance team, synchronized swimming, 2 plays, and various classrooms all decorated so extremely. I had so much fun and all the food was so delicious.

The next day was July 7th. This day is a holiday called Tanabata. It is a day where people can wish on the stars by writing down their hopes and dreams and hanging the paper on a bamboo tree. If it rains the wish is less likely to come true but luckily for us it was a clear, blue skied day. Nanase and I got dressed up in our yukatas (which is a summer version of a kimono) and went to a party with the other exchange students. It was so fun to get to see everyone dressed up and talking to people with similar interests in cross cultural exchange is so eye opening. The food there was also delicious. The most exciting part of the night was when we got to eat somen. It was fun because there was a small bamboo slide with running water in it and everyone lined up along side of it to fish out noodles flowing down the bamboo. It was a bit difficult to pick up to noodles but once you conquered the noodles it made them taste even better. Everyone was so kind and I’m glad to have met such nice people.

The more I learn about Japan, the more I come to love it. I will continue to improve my vocabulary and push my comfort zone to do as many new things as possible. Although I am super busy here I will try to do a better job of writing these blogs and I hope you all can learn a little bit more about Japan and its rich culture by reading these blogs.

Please enjoy the pictures I have attached below.