Mikoshi Parade 



The first big event of Michinoku Geinou Matsuri is the Mikoshi Parade. More than one thousand children march, chant, and whistle in groups while hoisting their hand-made mikoshi, or demon heads. The amount of energy on display was astonishing.
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Unloading a Demon 



In final preparations for the opening of Michinoku Geinou Matsuri, various performance groups were unloading their large demon head creations from the world's tiniest trucks. Later they would march, chant, whistle, and hoist the demon heads up and down with great enthusiasm. Some of the demon heads looked quite fierce, others were rather abstract, and then there was this cartoony guy.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think he is Oni Marukun, a character created 13 years ago to promote a school. After the school opened, he was adopted as a mascot by the Kitakami tourism bureau because his design is based on the city's Onikenbai sword dance demons.
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Are We Ready For a Matsuri? 



Lanterns? Check. Banners? Check. Rented flood lights to illuminate the dancing demons at night? Check.

Michinoku Geinou Matsuri ("North Country Performing Arts Festival") starts tomorrow. This is a major festival of Kitakami, and is famous for Onikenbai, the "Demon Sword Dance". The three-day festival officially starts tomorrow, and ends Monday with a grand fireworks display.
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The Gaijin Stare 

Westerners traveling to Japan, especially the more rural areas, usually hear about the "Gaijin Stare" before they arrive. The Gaijin Stare occurs when a native Japanese, well, stares at you because of your foreignness. This phenomenon is likely not unique to Japan.

At just over two months in residence, I've grown accustomed to curious looks or questions about where I'm from. Many times, my Amerika-jin-ness doesn't come up at all. Matthew gets more attention than I do because of his height and The Moustache. The Moustache attracts wonder, awe, and on unfortunate occasions, laughter. A couple of weeks ago, it got laughed at by two separate groups in the same afternoon. The Moustache felt sad, turning its pointy tips down (or maybe that was the effing heat and humidity). Matthew confessed that this had happened previously and that it gets old.

Today, I got the full Gaijin Stare treatment, and it was kind of unnerving. I was putting my bags into the car after leaving the grocery, when I looked up to see the woman in the car across from mine staring at me. And I mean STARING. Open the car door -- staring. Close the door and move to the driver's door -- staring. Get in the car -- staring. Buckle seat belt -- staring. I did look up from what I was doing at one point to see her looking off in a different direction, but when I looked up to leave the parking lot -- staring. Even when I looked directly at her, she kept staring unblinkingly.

I don't know why today was different. Maybe others have stared and I just haven't noticed. I had my hair up, so it's not like I was rocking the curls, which might be stareworthy (Sidebar: Living in Kitakami has been FANTASTIC for my hair -- it's all bouncy and curly! Now I just need to hope for a decent stylist when the time comes.). Maybe it was because, in heels, I was standing about 5'9", or considerably taller than your average Japanese woman. Or maybe she actually was staring at my handbag, making it the Accessory Stare, known to women worldwide.
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Spider in the Morning 



Our previous spider has moved on, and this one came to replace it. We discovered it in the morning, which is a bit more auspicious. (Later, I saw it again at night. This spider seems to offer 24-hour service.)

Its web is really quite distinctive, too - the center is kind of fluffy, with a vertical "ladder" of thick webbing extending above and below it.


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Sign Sign Everywhere a Sign 


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You Want Fries With That? 



This is in Mizusawa, a small town south of Kitakami. And no, we didn't stop here for lunch.
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The Coolest Lawn Mower Ever 



When I was a kid running a lawn-mowing business, I always thought a radio-controlled lawn mower would be cool. It turns out, I was right.


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What Are You Doing Here? 

This is one of the questions Matthew and I, and probably every other gaijin here, frequently get asked. In our experience, it is never followed by "la dee dah, dee dee dah."

There are enough English schools in Kitakami that foreign teachers come and go with some regularity, so we're not unusual in that respect. But, most people are a little surprised to learn that we knew about and loved Tohoku before we moved here. They generally are pleased to learn that Matthew chose his job in part because the company's schools are located primarily in Tohoku. Tohoku is not "where it's happening" in Japan; I've seen it, and specifically Iwate Prefecture, described in various places on the internet as "backwater." We can relate to this as native New Mexicans. When you live near Washington, at most you'll get questions about whether you're in politics, but when you talk about living in New Mexico, reactions range from: "You're so lucky -- that's God's country" to "But there's nothing/nothing to do there!"

When people learn that we came here from Washington, we start getting the latter. "What do you think about Kitakami? Don't you think it's boring?" And the truth is, not really. The area is beautiful, there's a lot of ground to be covered, and we're the new kids in town -- it's all still interesting to us. I don't really understand why people here don't dine alfresco, but that's hardly a dealbreaker.

Conversation naturally turns from Matthew's employment as the reason for our move to my profession. The first time I told someone I was an American lawyer was a revelation:

Person: What do you do? Are you also a teacher?
SKD: I'm a lawyer in America, but I will probably be teaching here.
Person: Sugoi! (translation: Fantastic!)

This reaction is pretty common and rather delightful. The Japanese don't hate lawyers. The relative lack of litigiousness in their society is surely one factor; another is that lawyers are comparatively rare here. None of the Japanese I've encountered has mentioned even knowing a Japanese lawyer. I don't think the Japanese even have lawyer jokes. Which, now that I think about it, is a nice side benefit of being here.
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Found My Thrill 

Nothing says summer like blueberries. Unique to Japan, that means a big katakana banner heralding the aforementioned fruit.



My language partner and I visited Kitakami's blueberry farm this morning, accompanied by her daughter and a friend. I think this was a first experience for all of us, and speaking for myself, I've been deprived for thirty-two years. Really, it doesn't get any better than popping ripe, sun-warmed, straight from the bush berries into your mouth on a hot summer day, surrounded by beautiful mountains.

There was some competition for the title of "Best Blueberry Experience." In planning for the trip, I offered a lesson in muffin making because another foreigner had told my language partner how great blueberry muffins are, and she wanted to try them. Perhaps less altruistically, I knew she had an oven and I sensed an opportunity to get my bake on.

The lesson was great fun. Channeling my inner Julia Collin, I explained the steps and did the preliminary mixing and instructed the girls on how to mix wet into dry ingredients, leaving the batter lumpy for light muffins, and gently folding the berries into the batter so they wouldn't break. We all took turns watching the muffins in the oven and barely tolerated the wait to eat them when they came out. It was kind of awesome. So were the muffins. :)

Tonight, I'm busting out the chopstick whisk again to whip cream to serve alongside the otherwise unadulterated berries.
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