NILS students had a great time at one of the most famous festivals in Fukuoka, Hojoya (放生会).
The Houjouya Festival activity with NILS class this week was very fantastic!
This “matsuri”is a celebration of food abundance and life. Add for free, “yukata”s, a shrine visit, and happy people. I mean a LOT of happy people walking around, eating, drinking, and taking pictures in a set of alleys where food and drink vendors have their stands.
The top point for me where the cute little kids that had never seen a “gaijin” before. Fearless of talking to strangers, they stare at me as if the time has just stopped. Hey, there you go a great opportunity to practice some Japanese; which of course I did use. Naturally, everybody around get out of their Japanese shell, while the joy spreads around the child and myself. Pictures taken of course!
After two weeks in Japan, if a place is near a subway, or a train, I can go there. If it does not work in the first try, even better, I can ask for directions in Japanese. Great! —Jorge
This was my first matsuri!!!!! It was absolutely fun. We got to eat so many different things like takoyaki, yakitori, and even horse meat (ahh!). Hirosei-sensei share some of her yakitori with me and it was so delicious I had to get one myself! I also ate dondurma ice cream! I’ve never had it before. It was very interesting. It tasted like ice cream but it was sticky like mochi. I did some research and found out that it is a Turkish dessert. That was probably one of the best foods that I had at the festival.
Laura and I went to see the Misemono goya! There was the woman who can breathe fire, the cavemen, the sick old man, the man with a sword though his face, and a woman that ate bugs! It was weird but fun to watch! I thought the woman who breathes fire was the coolest.
We also got to watch a play at the shrine! It was a bit hard to understand because they were using Hakozaki ben. I did get some jokes though so it was a good experience!
The festival also had lots of fishing. There was goldfish fishing, crab fishing turtle fishing, even eel fishing! We didn’t try any of it but the turtles were very cute. It was a kind of sad seeing them trapped in there.
I’m happy we got to go!! There was so much good food and fun things to see. I will probably never forget the amazing yakitori I ate and the Misemono goya! I would love to take my family to this some day. —Stephanie
