Thursday, October 4, 2012

otaki castle festival + tokyo swing night

It's October! Somehow I've passed the two-month mark in Japan, which feels like no time and a long time at the same time. In some ways I feel like I'm pretty settled, but for example I still don't own a chair so there's still a bit to go before I can say I'm all the way there, haha. But I'm definitely still feeling like things are new and exciting, so I'm doing my best to enjoy it while it lasts. :D

On Sunday I took a day trip down to the Otaki Castle Festival! I wrote about it here (and if you've already read it, I'm both surprised and impressed, haha). Like I said in the post, I liked how it was pretty unique as far as Japanese festivals go (which to be honest are pretty similar to each other and also all happen around the same time in the fall), so I'm glad I went, even though I spent most of the time wandering around by myself.

And then yesterday I made a trip into Tokyo for Tokyo Swing Night! I've been trying to find dance events nearby to go to, since I really miss dancing and also because I think it's a good way to meet new people, and TSN was pretty much the kind of thing I was looking for. It's not in Chiba City, unfortunately, but it only takes an hour to get to Tokyo and I figure getting to lindy hop for a couple of hours is worth the time/expense.

Anyway, there weren't too many people there last night, but that meant that I got to meet and talk to all of them, which I think is a good thing for the first time going to an event. Apparently they do usually do get a bigger crowd though, which is definitely exciting. It was really, really awesome to get to dance again (I think it's been about four months since I last lindy-hopped), especially because almost all the leads there were really good dancers. They meet every two weeks, plus occasional parties or bigger events with live bands and stuff, and I am thinking that this might become part of my regular schedule! Here's hoping I'll be able to find some other ballroom/Latin/swing dance events and make dancing a consistent part of my life again. :D

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