.::* Living and Dreaming *::.

Ieyasu Festival in Okazaki

I went to a festival in Okazaki (Ieyasu Festival) where Sarah (Kent’s friend) lives. It was a pretty big festival. Something like Heritage Days in Edmonton and this city is only 500,000 people. I guess a lot of people from neighboring cities come out for this event. There were a lot of booths selling food and I went all out and tried as much as I could. There was also a parade and a big performance where I got to see archers on horses, people dressed in armor, people with guns firing blanks, a little show with a shogun and his small army, girls from the Miss Okazaki contest, dancers, etc. It was a lot of fun and the cherry blossoms were sooo pretty. When evening falls, light bulbs in the trees are lit up and it gets really romantic by the time nighttime comes around. And all this is along the bank of a river!
I stayed after the festival to hang out with Sarah and her co-workers. I really enjoy being around a variety of people. It was funny because there were 3 Australians from different parts of Australia and they were making fun of each other. It’s like rivalry between Calgary and Edmonton. Also, I learned that there are no lions in Australia, something that I never thought about but something that did come up in a conversation about the Australian outback. :D
Another thing that I discovered was that there is a train station near my house. So instead of walking to the subway and riding it half an hour north to transfer to a train that passes by my place anyways, I could have walked the same distance to the train station as the subway station. Oh well, you live and you learn.

posted by ~diana~ @ 11:56 PM