Ebisu Eki Natsu Omatsuri

Ebisu station's summer festival happened on the first weekend of August. I've been so busy with learning Japanese that I haven't been diligent about keeping up this blog. However, I found out about the festival quite by chance. We were sitting in a cafe restaurant in YGP, having dinner before trying to watch Blueberry Nights at the Twilight Cinema festival, when the lady beside us, suddenly and uncharacteristically of the Japanese people, decided to strike up a conversation with us.

"Excuse me, but where are the two of you from?" was her first question. English wasn't quite that good, but half the sentence was in Japanese so I'm taking artistic freedom to translate it all. I responded with, "Canada."

"Both of you are from Canada?" I guess it's that whole Asian look that I have that throws people off. "Yes, both of us." I switch to Japanese. She's surprised. She starts asking all sorts of questions in rapid-fire Japanese. "Sumimasen, motto yukkuri hanashite kudasai. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu." I quickly let her know that I can't speak that quickly and could she kindly oblige. She does.

That's when she tells us about the Ebisu street festival right outside the West exit of the station. "It's happening tonight after 6 pm and tomorrow night as well." We tell her we might show up. She says we should go to experience it. It's so lively and fun - nigiyaka de tanoshii desu. Plus, she's dancing during the festival. So there it was. The plug for herself and her dance troupe.

We say thanks for the info and we would definitely try to get there after our movie was finished. Then we left as I had finished my mango smoothie. Delicious btw. We walked back to watch the movie, but YGP was so packed that it was uncomfortable in most places and the best view we could get was a standing spot only. I didn't want to stand there for more than 2.5 hours to watch the movie.

At this point it was 6 pm. We decide to head towards the station and check out the matsuri. There were tonnes of people. There were tonnes of food stands. I had never seen so much yakisoba all in one place before. I should have taken a photo. As it was, I only had my keitai with me that night and I managed to get only this one almost clear, blind shot of the dancing and the central dance stage. Apparently, this is the same setup that most machi festivals adopt in the summer. My husband went to the one at Oosaki station just last week, and he confirmed the same stage, music and dancing occured. However, the sponsor was San Rio - of Hello Kitty, or Kittychan fame - and they were giving out small San Rio imprinted souvenir dolls and fans. My husband refused to get one for me as he would have to be seen coming back home on the train with the incriminating goods. I think if he really loved me and was resourceful, he would have rented a 5 year for the train ride home. I don't want much eh? :-D

More on Twilight Cinema Event

Last weekend, on Saturday, August 2, we walked over to YGP to catch the British flick, "My Blueberry Nights," starring Jude Law, Nathalie Portman, and Norah Jones. We arrived at 6:15, with 30 minutes to spare and there was literally no seats left. Both sides of the official seats were flanked by "late-comers" who had to sit on the floor. So there was actually no seats left on the parts of the floor where the screen was completely unobstructed either.

After doing the walk-about to find a suitable spot for sitting, we finally sat on the left side of the flank. 10 seconds later, an usher came up to us and told us that we were actually sitting in the aisle and had to move out of the way. So we circled again and decided to stand on the back right side of the seating area. While waiting for the movie to start, my legs started to hurt. I know - I'm a wimp. I could have stood throughout the whole movie, but since I had spent the entire previous day outdoors watching beach volleyball, I think a full 2 hours of standing would have done me in.

I'm writing about the event again, because it continues to be popular. That particular movie must have been the most popular movie to date, since I've walked past before or during other movies for this event. Tonight is the last showing and I will miss it as I will be out doing something active. It's the movie, "All About my Mother," starring Penelope Cruz. I do want to see this movie. However, the original movie is done in Spanish. Here, the subtitles will be in Japanese. I think this might be too much of a challenge at this point for me. So I'll have to wait until we return to Canada to rent the film.

I'm sad that I've missed most of the rest of the Twilight Cinema series, but since the original languages vary, I didn't think that I could enjoy the full movie trying to read the Japanese subtitles. Unfortunately, it seems that the English movies are very popular to watch. This makes me miss TIFF, but sadly I won't be back in Toronto for it this September either.

It seems that this is the peak of Japanese summer as most festivals are winding down. There are only 2 more weekends where you can officially climb Mt. Fuji and so far, no plans are in the works. I may have to miss that too, or climb in September when it might be more dangerous since it might actually hit zero degrees at the top. I still find that too funny --- our perception of cold weather versus theirs.

Summer Events Summary so far:
Hanabi - 1
Twilight Cinema - 1
Beach Volleyball - 1
Mt. Fuji - maybe