citizen's day

I'm happy to report that the past couple of days have been more eventful than last week, and it seems like this will continue through the weekend! Yesterday I went to Tokyo for Tokyo Swing Night again, and again, I had a great time! There were a few more people than when I went two weeks ago, including some first-time swing dancers, which is always exciting. It was definitely worth the bike ride back from the station afterward, which I did in pouring, cold autumn rain. I actually had to stop and wring out my hoodie and even my skirt before stepping into my apartment - even my feet were soaked despite my rain boots, because the rain just came in from the top! It was pretty crazy, but worth it. :)

Today was Chiba City's Citizens Day, in commemoration of Chiba City becoming a designated city. This year it's also the 20th anniversary, which is pretty exciting! Being a designated city means that the city has the same authority as a prefecture in certain areas and has a population over 500,000 (for the record, Chiba City's is 960,000, which I know because it comes up in almost every speech/statement by the mayor that I have to translate), and in 1992 Chiba City became the 12th designated city in Japan. I could probably go on about it for a bit (I learned a bunch about what it means to be a designated city/the history of Chiba City as one today), but I'll spare you the details for now.

Anyway, in celebration lots of places in the city like the zoo, Chiba City Art Museum, the Science Museum (and planetarium!), Kasori Shell Mounds Museum, etc had free admission, but since it was Thursday and I had to work I didn't get to take advantage of any of that. Instead though, for work I went to a ceremony where they gave awards to people of merit who have made contributions to the city. We sent invitations to our sister cities, which were accepted by the Paraguayan ambassador, the acting ambassador of the Philippines, and the American vice consul in Tokyo. So my job was to accompany the vice consul and interpret for him as needed.

So in the morning we went over to the Keiyo Bank Culture Plaza and met up with Gina to finish setting up the exhibit on our sister cities and to go over the schedule and routes for the afternoon. After that Gina and I went had a quick lunch before going back to wait for our guests to arrive. I ended up waiting outside with Satou-san for a while because the vice consul was running late, so we went straight into the ceremony without going to meet the mayor as planned.

The ceremony was very formal and pretty standard: a lot of speeches, recognizing everybody who received awards, and a commemorative photograph at the end. I found out that Chiba City has a song, which was pretty cool, and we also got to watch a video about the city's path to being a designated city and enjoy a short violin performance. I interpreted just the basic gist of the speeches and the video for the vice consul (not too many details because frankly, I don't think he cared too much), and after that we went upstairs so he could meet and exchange a few words with the mayor. As far as interpreting goes, I think I did a better job last time, to be honest, but I also think it mattered less since it was all mostly just formality.

And then we cleaned up and brought some of the items from the exhibit over to the Central Library for them to use in their display before going back to the office. It was a pretty long and tiring day, but exciting! I'll actually probably be seeing the vice consul again tomorrow at a barbecue that the US Embassy is having for new JETs in the area, which is pretty cool. Events like today are always super nerve-wracking but definitely interesting, so I hope that I keep getting to do them!