ICHINOMIYA HOMESTAY
Hey Hey! Look who writes again!!!! You gotta give me 10 points for effort aye?! Anyways….on the latest of episode of Jo in Japan, is “Jo does a homestay” woohoo, heheheh corny….
Last weekend I went on homestay with the Kobayashi Family of Ichinomiya City (next to Gifu City). Apart from having a sneaking suspicion that Mrs.Kobayashi was trying to set me up with her unmarried 31 year old son, I had a blast! I think my host mum really enjoyed my company for she only has 2 sons, so I was her daughter for the weekend.
It was a jam packed weekend, first stop was her Tai Chi class. After showing slight interest in her hobby during conversation in the car, she quickly made a hard left hand turn and sped off to the community centre where she did tai chi just so we could catch the last 10 minutes of the class. She introduced me to all her classmates and they all tried talking Chinese to me….these people knew more Chinese than I did! We then had lunch with two of her ‘Tai-Chi Kaki’ (I’ve just inserted abit of Malaysian slang here and I’m sure, Dad you’d appreciated it. There’s a Singaporean girl living in the dorm this semester and when she saw the photo she said “So you went to lunch with the tai chi kaki?” and I burst out laughing, it’s very Singlish. And I think most of you don’t know what I’m talking about…it just means “Tai Chi Friends” but “Kaki” actually translates to “Leg”…ANYHOO I digress…
Next stop was Inuyama Castle, just abit of useless trivia for you here, ‘Inu’ is Japanese for DOG and ‘Yama’ – MOUNTAIN. So it’s very easy to remember “Dog Mountain”. It’s a beautiful castle and the leaves of the trees were also in the process of changing colours so it was really pretty. There was also a festival that happened to be on, on that day, so we got to see the locals push around huge shrine things on wheels (I wouldn’t have a clue what they are called in English but in Japanese it’s ‘Yama’ but not ‘Yama’ as in mountain.) While at the castle I also attended a Japanese Tea Ceremony, which was very cool.
For dinner it was Sukiyaki – which I had never tried before, it was delish! Japanese people are so accommodating, especially if you are a foreigner, anything you haven’t tried before, all you have to do is mention it and they will go out of their way to make it for you or take you to it. So I took advantage of this and also mention that I hadn’t been to a Japanese sushi train before (well I have but ….) and the very next day I was taken to there for lunch.
Sunday, we went to a Shrine and saw two events, a traditional wedding ceremony and the 3,5,7 year old Children’s Ceremony, all by coincidence! It was great, I took pictures with the little kids dressed up in little kimonos (they were so cute!) and also got within 1.5 metres of the wedding couple. And just next door to the Shrine was the Centre where the “Japanese Cultural Experience Convention” was and there I got to experience another tea ceremony, do some Japanese calligraphy, dress up in various different costumes such as sumo, kendo, ninja and also KIMONO. It’s impossible to put on a kimono by yourself. That day I had 3 ladies put it on for me! It’s not everyday you get dressed by 3 ladies…and I’m not sure whether I would want 3 ladies dress me everyday….but anyway…
Just before catching the train back to Gifu, we were at Ichinomiya train station and there was a “Maiko” – Geisha in training, on stage performing a dance! She was really little and had heaps of make up on, you should have seen all the old men crowded around the stage, I think they outnumbered the women! hehehe
It was an excellent weekend!
This weekend is the Gifu University Festival where the circle I belong to “Ryugaku Love” is going to participate in a “Mikoshi (portable shrine) parade” and I will also be performing in a dramatic play with my seminar classmates.
Till next time!
Love JO
