out with a bang

So somehow before I realized it, I've become a third-year JET! (Weird...still not used to introducing myself that way at all.) I think that's mostly due to the fact that July was probably the busiest month I've had so far (or at least, it's the month in my planner that has the most writing on it).

In July, I...:
 - went and saw takarazuka for the first time ever with a friend, who happens to be a takarazuka expert! Takarazuka is a type of musical theater where all the performers are women, and the show (Rose of Versailles: Oscar Edition) was dramatic and sparkly and confusing and awesome.  :D
 - went to another Analogfish concert, but this time also with Asian Kung-Fu Generation, who is much more famous by far. Consequently I spent the first half (their half) being totally crushed in the midst of happy dancing AKFG fans, but I managed to be near the front for both them and Analogfish, so it was great. Technically I went with my friend but we didn't actually end up finding each other until after, oops.
 - had catchup/goodbye meals with friends/coworkers/predecessor
 - interpreted for a presentation/courtesy visit for the representatives of the Red Bull Air Race, which will be taking place in Chiba City. Managed to do most of the presentation interpreting on-the-fly, which was pretty cool.
 - met up with my parent's friends who were visiting Tokyo and watched them buy lots of brand name stuff (apparently it's much much cheaper in Japan)
 - interpreted for the mayor at a museum event/reception for Kiwanis International, who had their annual convention at Makuhari Messe (a big deal)
 - was the emcee for the first time at our discussion for foreign residents instead of just an interpreter (and got to tour the Chiba City Zoological Park again)
 - performed in two yosakoi events (as detailed in my last post)
 - had lots of meetings for various types of AJET

But the peak of the month was definitely at the end, when my crazy schedule went something like this:
 - Friday evening: interpreting at a dinner hosted for the mayor of our sister city, Montreux (being the only interpreter at a dinner party is always a challenge...)
 - Saturday: accompanying the mayor to the new AEON mall in Makuhari, a sushi lunch, and then the poolside BBQ Swiss National Day event hosted by the Swiss Embassy in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Switzerland, where I interpreted for the mayor, met the Ambassador of Switzerland to Japan, and saw our sister city's mayor swim in a pool shaped like Lake Geneva (which borders Montreux)
 - Sunday: yosakoi event all day
 - Monday: being a bus guide, emcee, and interpreter for a group of diplomats who came to visit Chiba City for a study tour! My group visited Kanda University of International Studies, which had a really cool campus (I would probably have loved being a student there), before going to a presentation by the Economic Affairs Bureau/lunch reception, the Institute of Radiological Sciences, and the Chiba City Museum of Art. It was a reaaally long day but I had a pretty good time telling people where we'd go, etc. on the bus and then going around the different places with them. Afterward the Ambassador of Malawi to Japan personally thanked me and asked for my business card, which was pretty awesome. And so after arriving back in Tokyo with everybody in the evening (after some intense traffic and a slight fiasco involving peanuts)...
 - ...I headed to Shinjuku to meet some fellow CIRs who were around for Tokyo Orientation (sad I couldn't be a part of it this year), but only had time for one drink before...
 - ...heading straight to the airport to head to America for a week to be a bridesmaid in my high school best friend's wedding! Since that wasn't really Japan-related I won't go into too much detail here, but it was a wonderful (almost) week of seeing my college friend/sister during layovers, meeting my friend's relatives, seeing my high school friends again, and even managing to spend a night at home with my parents. And seeing my high school best friend happily married, of course. :)

And that's how I actually spent the day of my third anniversary in Japan flying somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. I think my second year of JET far exceeded the standard of awesomeness set by the previous year, and even though I can't really imagine how, I can only hope that my third and probably final year will do the same!

chiba yosakoi

As I may have mentioned before, summer is yosakoi season, and now we're in full swing! Starting with a few events last month, now we'll have performances almost every weekend until the end of September (plus a few more in October and November).

Our events in July were both in Chiba, first a festival called Boso Daisakusen (or as I like to translate it, Operation Boso), and then the Funabashi Festival. In keeping with the team's goal of promoting yosakoi in Chiba, Operation Boso took us up and down the Boso peninsula, which makes up most of the prefecture. 

Our first stop was a small rest area (?) in Nagara, where (if I remember correctly) a local yosakoi team is trying to get more people involved. We only had a few teams performing and a pretty small audience, but it was a fun way to start out the day and I enjoyed seeing the other teams - there was one dance involving teruterubouzu, or little white figures with faces that people hang up as charms for good weather, and some adorable kids singing and dancing with them.

Next we went down to Shirahama, where I went last year for a Chiba-kun Ambassador's tour  , which also happens to be southernmost tip of the peninsula. They were having a festival called Maruguru, complete with a karaoke competition and lots of food stalls. Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to go up the hill to see the gorgeous view of the ocean there, but this time there were lots of people watching all the yosakoi performances and they seemed to enjoy it. :D

Our last stop was a shopping mall in Tateyama, where my friends from Sosa and Kamogawa came to see us perform! This was the first time I got to perform for people I know, so that was pretty exciting. :)

And then the next weekend, we performed in Funabashi's festival, despite some rain. My camera ran out of batteries so I don't have any pictures, but it was a big crowded event complete with floats/portable shrines, and lots of fun. I remember being really impressed because one of the teams that performed with us was actually a high school band, who even performed a few songs (with harmony and everything) - talk about multi-talented!

It's a lot of fun to travel to yosakoi events all around the country (we have another big tournament coming up in Nagoya at the end of the month), but it's also pretty great to be able to perform in familiar local places, too. :D