２０１４年７月２４日−２６日

July 24th:

The weekend of 祭り matsuri (festivals). Started out on Thursday with an office party. The joining and welding research institute, all 5 floors of it put together a nice festival in which each lab sells something different. Our lab was in charge of making hot dogs and we did a pretty fine job. It was interesting talking to the other foreigners in the building. There were only about 5 of total. They were all long term masters or PhD students and talked about the social problems with living in Japan as the 1%. We agreed there is a serious 外人 gaijin (foreigner) bubble in social groups, and it is typically really difficult to merge with the locals if you don't speak any Japanese. Fortunately, I had a few years of Japanese under my belt which allowed me to break through this barrier. Still, I had to agree with them. Other than that, I enjoyed incredible food, met a bunch of people, played bingo in Japanese and enjoyed the festivities.

Our booth

The people next to us. It was basically a big feast on the parking lot.

An image of our lab team.

Japanese bingo.

People setting off fireworks after the bingo.

Check out the massive bag my friend of my favorite chips Onishi won. 

July 25th:

Another day for a festival! But first I got through a day of lab work. During lunchtime, my labmates and I conjured up the leftovers from the office party and made some bomb hot dogs.

Cooking on the lab desks... 

Lol! Not very appetizing looking here maybe, but it taste great.

I got off work relatively early, which was nice considering how hard I had been working all week. Also, there was a festival to catch, one of Japan's 3 biggest festivals called 天神祭 Tenjinmatsuri. The night was pretty enchanting. Another beautiful sunset, lots of people, fireworks everywhere, tons of vendors on the streets, and all sorts of show boats floating down the rivers. Here are some pictures.

Guy relaxing in the park. Nice shot I thought.

Fireworks from the bridge with cool lighting.

Get an idea for how packed the streets were.

Another shot that shows how crowded it was.

Great atmosphere. 

A boat with a 太鼓 Taiko Japanese style drum show.

Here's a video of it:

Pretty great night. The next day would be crazy too.

July 26th:

After two nights of festivals, we were a little exhausted. But my friend Felix was still adventurous enough to join me for the 取り人間 Toriningen Birdman Rally. To clarify, this is a competition held annually in Hikone in which people build gliders or human powered airplanes for fly them off a platform over lake to see who can fly the furthest. If you have every seen Red Bull's Flugtag, it's something similar but more serious. These gliders were awesome. But to get there, Felix and I got up early, biked to a station about 3 miles away to meet my labmate who was joining us as well, and rode a train for 2 hours into the northeast direction from Osaka. Into the rice-pad-ridden countryside. Here are pictures to help explain the day:

A famous samurai from the area posted outside the station. It was a HOT day!

Can you see all the airplanes being assembled on the platform? 2 teams in line, and one getting ready to fly off the platform.

Me having fun with the airplanes.

Day dreaming of making my own airplanes.

Assembling a glider wing.

We ate lunch near the lake with my labmate and his Buddhist monk friend. I forgot the guy's name, but he was really easy-going. It was nice because all of us spoke enough Japanese to more or less talk Japanese the whole meal. 

Some more pictures. And videos!

To give you an idea how hot it was. I had an umbrella, hat, sunscreen, and even a fan, but my arms looked like this the whole day.

In fact, at one point, the announcer said, "It has just hit 37 degrees. Please drink lots of water and be careful not to succumb to a heat stroke".

What a bad flight looks like:

 What a good flight looks like:

After 17 flights, the sun was starting to come down. 

What a good area of the city looks like. 

My labmate and I comparing watch tans.

Honestly, the hottest day I suffered through in Japan was in Hikone. We had to drink so much water and tea to keep hydrated, but I certainly won't forget all the inspiring glider flights I saw from the participants.
And just when you thought we were all festival'ed out.... We go to another festival. That's right, on the same day and right by out dorm. Presenting, the 吹田祭りSuita Maturi, celebrating the city in which I live.

The lanterns and crowd combination never gets old.

I was pretty exhausted, so I just got some food from the super market and ate it on a blanket with my friends over some beers. Got a nice group shot at the end of the night.

A great group of people.