Moon Festival

Chika from the model agency came again this morning. I had to do a little video, and record a jingle: basically me saying "Stars & Brains Winter Sale Now On". My video was awful, and she laughed at me making a fool of myself, but said it was good. Initially she told me it had to be between 5 and 15 minutes, but later came over, slapped me on the arm and said "between 5 and 15 seconds".

We all left for the Moon Festival at about 4pm. Kanashima-san had brought loads of food with her, which we carried. It was a long trek, and I was dripping in sweat. Very disgusting. I don't think I've sweated that much before in my life (I feel for you Steve!).

The place itself was a big field with loads of little tables and mats on the ground, and around the edges lots of little stands selling food, drinks, and other assorted goodies. We didn't stay long however, about 1 minute, before we were off walking again. Up a big hill (it's at least 280m high), which took another good 30 minutes, with the final bit being a long, steep staircase. By the time I was at the top you couldn't tell I'd been sweating as my shirt was just all dark blue. There was a nice view from the top, and a little Shinto shrine. The shrine workers were all dressed in white, looking very smart, and they served as sake from god. You have to take a tiny, flat bowl in two hands and sip the sake in three goes. Unfortunately we got there too late for the dancing shrine girls. Oh well, I think the shrines look really amazing, so it was worth the walk. And there's nothing like a good sweat!

Back at the bottom of the hill, we went to a tea ceremony. Not overly formal, as most people talked (well we did). The ladies in kimonos came round with a little white serviette on to which you placed a leaf made of sugar. Then they brought round the tea. First you eat the sweet, then you drink the tea. Remember to bow lots, especially when they bow at you. Then we got a refill! I quite liked the taste of the warm tea with the sugary sweet.

We spent the rest of the evening sat around a little table, drinking umeshu (plum sake) and eating the food Kanashima-san had brought. Little sausages, egg and meatballs on a stick, breaded pork bits, rice wrapped in seaweed, and chicken legs fried in Coca-Cola and soy-sauce!

The moon festival is basically celebrated because there's a full moon, and it managed to rear its head eventually, despite the heavy cloud cover. There were acts on the stage at the front, and I went up and managed to see some real life Taiko drumming. It was amazingly cool and elegant, and the rhythms they made were fantastic. At the end of the night they lit a whole bunch of fireworks, getting progressively more noisy, until a couple of huge ones at the end.