At around 2:30 I went down to the station, and met Miss Kageyama. She was game enough to go to the festival with me. I think she just wanted to see a foreigner helping with the mikoshi. Apparently she had a big night last night, with a bit too much beer, but she rallied just fine.
I was amazed at how many people were at the festival. The place was packed! We went over to watch the mikoshi go by, and right away I saw my friends from the yakitori, sweating big time and carrying a monster mikoshi. They were really struggling, and a couple of times it almost turned over – I can’t imagine the run of bad luck that goes along with that.
After the first turn around the temple, one of the guys tapped me on the shoulder and handed me his happi – a gown worn by the people that lift the mikoshi. It’s not strictly enforced, though, and I saw other people helping in casual clothes. I put it on, and then I was committed.
We lifted the giant shrine and walked along. Thankfully, there weren’t too many advanced manuevers, especially since I couldn’t understand the instructions being shouted at everyone. We made a long trip down the back of the temple, and then sat the mikoshi down. I was sweating big time, and I hadn’t even taken it all the way around the temple. We sat and waited for some of the others to go by, and in the meantime, I introduced Miss Kageyama to everyone. Some people saw my outfit and walked up to take pictures with me. One guy even poured me a beer.
It became apparent that we were going to be there a while, so I returned my happi so that I didn’t forget and walk off with it. We mingled with the crowd a little, and then I saw Melanie and went over to introduce her to Miss Kageyama. Miss Kageyama had really wanted to meet Melanie to put a face to her name. We talked for a little while, and Miss Kageyama and I decided to do something about our appetites. There were tons of snack foods around, but we felt like something a little more substantial, so we decided to try out the new okonomiyaki restaurant near my house.
On the way, I popped in on the shaved ice lady, who nowadays is selling takoyaki out of her booth, since the weather has cooled considerably. I hadn’t seen her in a long time, and so we talked briefly, and then when she saw Miss Kageyama, they talked for a long time. I could only catch a bit, but they covered a lot of topics. Afterwards, she gave us each a hot package of takoyaki to take home. We thanked her profusely, and then I diverted back to my apartment to stick them in the fridge.
The okonomiyaki restuarant was packed, and we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. That’s always a good sign, and as it turned out, the food was excellent. We ate shrimp and pork okonomiyaki, and we were surrounded by hungry people drinking beer and having a good time. The atmosphere was busy and loud. It kind of reminded me of a local pizza place in the U.S.
After an excellent meal, we made the long walk back to Higashi Futami station, and Miss Kageyama took the long train trip home – it’s about 30 minutes back to her place from that station. An exhausting day, but it was a lot of fun to try something new and see some friendly folks! Back to work tomorrow!
