this was a very japanese week here in nagoya for me. this past thursday a typhoon rolled in. it was expected to be the worst in 10 years and i will admit i got a bit freaked out over it but it turned out to not really do much damage in my area. from the news it was more severe in other parts of the country. here it just sort of blew and rained hard and then it was clear skies and a super sunny nice day, just with a little extra wind. what a relief!!!
today my friend kim invited me to an event she found in a local newspaper advertising events for foreigners. this one was put on by a little group of older japanese ladies. they call themselves YY Club which means japan and kimono. they offer the chance for foreigners to try on traditional japanese kimono.
the day was super fun albeit a tad uncomfortable. i was slightly concerned that the kimono would be too small for me and well, i was right but these ladies tugged, pulled and cinched me right into that baby. at one point there were 5 ladies assisting me. i did feel like a giant! not only am i literally 2-3 times wider than them but they all stood under my shoulder. they did a good job though and pretty much got me into it right. and boy, it is a process. first you wear an inner lightweight robe like kimono thing, then the actual kimono, a couple belt tie thingies, then a cinched thing and finally the middle big ribbon thing and a few ropes/ties over that! fewww, it took about 20 minutes to get it all settled. you also wear little bright white socks for sandals with the big toe separate. it sure was an experience.
after kim and i were in the kimonos, we went with three of the ladies to the shiratori japanese gardens next door. it was awesome and as a couple white girls in kimonos we did get a bit of attention and a few people even taking our photo! the gardens were a real treat. i didn't know ahead of time that we were visiting but it was great. the pond had the most koi/carp i've ever seen in all colors and they were super big. awesome, cause i love to watch koi. they were ruthless for the fish food people were feeding them. quite a thing to see. the gardens were beautiful and the weather today was absolutely perfect!
after visiting the gardens, we returned to their meeting room for tea and sweets. the ladies were so nice and kind towards us. they even offered to show us more japanese things. i made a request to find out more information on where i could try traditional japanese taiko drums. i've seen it a few times and it looks awesome. i also said i wanted to learn how to make onigiri (rice ball) and they all laughed because basically it is the simplest japanese food to make.
it was such a great day! i hope to see the ladies again for more japanese culture!
