Thursday, April 30, 2009

Yukata (浴衣)

On April 25th, I signed up for a CIE event called "Yukata Fitting and Bon Odori Dance." I have always wanted a yukata. Yukata by the way is traditional Japanese summer clothing. It is more casual and easier to wear than a kimono. Once I came to Japan, I was sad to find out that I would not be able to attend matsuri festivals because they happen late summer. By then I will be in the states. So this event compensated for my prior disappointment. On this day I was raining pretty heavily, so I was expecting a low attendance. Actually, quite a few people showed up. Two guys actually came but it was mainly girls. When I came in the room there was a huge pile of yukatas I could pick from. I just picked the first one I liked.


And the result was...
I really liked the pattern of this yukata because it looks like it glowed. This color might have been too dark for my skin color. I should have gotten a lighter color but it looks nice anyways. After the fitting we had lunch, I paid my friend to make a bento for me and I brought snacks.

This is my friend's obi. I really, really liked the design of hers.


After lunch I saw a series of traditional dances. The dances were great but it was really funny because they performed it to enka.



The best part of the day was learning Bon Odori. We learned four different versions of Bon Odori from different parts of Japan. I can remember learning the Osaka and Tokyo one. We learned two other ones but I forgot what they were called. I was really fun. You just repeat the same movements over and over again while going in a circle until the song ends.

After this point my camera batteries died. And I'm really sad because we learned this cute song called Yakkyuken. You sing this song and do this cute dance and at the end you do Jan Ken Poi.
(Rock Paper Scissors) We had a tournament with all the ryugakusei and my friend and I won. I was not expecting to win. The prize was this little coin purse.

When I told my Japanese friends about the Yakkyuken they were surprised. The game is not as innocent as I thought. They told me that it is a stripping game. Every time you lose you have to take off some cloths. No~! Why did they have to tell me that?

2 comments:

Shosha said...

Would you believe me if I said that I read every single post from this blog? Because I did. xD

Thanks so much for writing about your study abroad experience! I had fun reading this and it made me look forward to going abroad that much more!!

Are looking forward to coming back to your home country? Or do you wish you could stay longer?

Anyways, I should go... I have exams to study for. D; Bleh.

Beverlie said...

Thanks for reading. It is always surprising to read comments from people other than my friends and family. Where are you studying abroad?

There is so much more I want to do in Japan but there isn't enough time even though I have the money. Staying in Japan longer would not be in issue if I didn't have to graduate in time and then straight to grad school.

Good luck on your exams. I have those coming soon ;_;