I wen to a Japanese Penis festival

On April 7th at 9am Taka and I exited the train in Kawaski Daishi. Our destination: the Kanamiya Shrine where the Kanamara Matsuri is celebrated annually. The festival originated from a legend which goes kind of like this:  A demon fell in love with a woman and hence lived in her uterus. The woman married twice and both men's genitals were bitten off by the demon in their wedding nights. A smith helped the woman and created an iron phallus. The demon's teeth fell off as he tried to bite on it.

Following this story the Kanamara Matsuri has been held since the 1960s. It has become a very popular event for foreigners after  videos of a gigantic pink penis being carried through the streets have been published. 

So here we were, being let in to the festival at 9am and even though the festival officially started at around 10, by that time, people weren't allowed to enter anymore, it was too full. The Kanamara Matsuri was in some aspects the same as any other festival. You could buy yakisoba, drinks, etc. for example. Just consider that maybe the next booth over they sell sake in glasses shaped like a penis. Or how about T-Shirts with various dick motives? Or do you prefer keychains in form of the male treasure? For the sweet tooth  you can purchase candy in form of a penis or vagina in different flavors and colours. Expect people walking around with shaped hats, licking on one of these lollipops (They are actually pretty tasty). There was also a very, VERY long waiting line of people who wanted to get one of the charms that ensure a healthy childbirth, safe sex and protection from STDs. We watched a traditional dance in front of the shrine and later the preparation for the pink phallus, with the name Elizabeth, to be carried through the streets. It got ist name from the transvestite club 'Elizabeth' that donated it. With clapping, shouting and drums the penis was sent off. All in all it was a crazy and fun festival! Next year I'd like to go to the Hono Matsuri.

We left the festival at around 12 and walked back to the Kawasaki Station. Here you can find the world's smallest escalator with only 5 steps. It is located in the More's Department Store. Afterwards Taka and I went to the Higashi takane forest park, which is a really beautiful big park.

Pictures in the gallery and even a few videos are out!

New host family-new horror?

Let's start from the beginning here. When I cam to Tamagawagakuen, my current host family, I have been told by my local coordinator Terui that I will stay 2 months, February until April. Then change again. Okay, no problem with that. April rolled around and I didn't hear anything from her, let alone about a change. Another background info: I heard from Terui as well as from my teacher that starting from April on a new exchange student from Thailand will attend my school. Sure! Why not? I was even excited to meet him, simce I'd like to travel to Thailand some time. What I didn't hear was that the student will live in the same house like me! I figured he'd have his own host family. Then, on April 4th, Thursady, I  sent a message to Terui asking if I can have the new student's LINE contact, he might have some questions about the school. Suddenly I received a reply from Terui saying, she needs to talk to me: Apparently, she will come tomorrow! with the new student because he will live here as well. Meaning I have to change families because it is against a rule, saying two students going to the same school shouldn't live at the same host family. There is a prospective host family (no names, family members whatsoever mentioned) in Minami Osawa. One of the other exchange students from my group stayed there for a while.

Had I not texted Terui myself I probably would have had  a big surprise on the next day. 

Curious as I was, I asked the other student, Elana. Her respones: DO NOT GO THERE. Followed by explanations: The host mother ignored Elana for two weeks and locked herself in her room. She won't provide any food meaning I'll have to buy and cook food for myself. Probably do that for the host mother and the 14 year old son, who doesn't go to school, as well. Otherwise the family would live only on oranges. Moldy or not. That is the only thing the host mother buys. 10 kilograms oranges. In addition the house is practically empty because the mother doens't like to buy things, not even necessities, making it impossible to e.g. cook properly. Both are often active in the night and are obsessed with pokemon GO. 

Elana also told me she couldn't wash her clothes, following that the mother ignored her, she has never been told how to use the laundry machine. It didn't work when she tried to find out herself. 

Another thing is that the mother cuts people off the WiFi. She turns the WiFi router off then on again but with a different password which she refuses to give to the host student. 

Other students told similar stories. About how two guys couldn't use the bathroom because the mother locked it and hid the key. It's is colder than outside sometimes. One time the host mother would disappear with the son without saying a word, not even a text message, for a few days, leaving another student all alone. (After another Student once asked Terui, Terui answered that it is partially the student's fault. How?)

If I really end up there my way to school will take one and a half hours only to get to school, meaning about 3 hours in total to go to and from school. 

After hearing these stories and experiences I am truly scared of going there. I am a sh*tty cook. 

I'll tell you now a cringeworthy Story about the poor new Thai student, John and Kimiko. For the ones who don't know. People in Thailand have two names. One is a Thai name, those are extremely long and very hard to pronounce for others hence they have also a nickname. This nickname can be either an English word, maybe something the parents wished for or for their child. (but not necessarily) Or an abbrevation from the child's Thai name. In this case the new student has a nickname from the English language: Tank (as in the war machine).  This story is starring: Tank, John, Kimiko, Yuuki the new university Student, another University Student and me.

So it was Friday evening, we were sitting around the dinner table. Yuuki and Tank haven't met yet and John starts to introduce them. John:" This is our new exchange student from Thailand! His name is TANK." He then proceeds to make various loud driving noises and tries to imitate a gun/canon as if something was shooting. I felt so sorry for Tank and was really embarrassed for the man's behaviour. In my opinion it is utterly rude to do that. Just say the name normally and finished. 

Some time later Kimiko had finished preparing dinner. On the menu: (of course mixes bought from the store) Indian Dal curry and "Thai Ccrry". The Indian one was okay, not very spicy, rahter on the sweet side. The Thai curry on the other side. Very hot and spicy, various vegetables mixed in, including avocado pieces and shrimp (because John loves it). Kimiko asked Tank how the curry is, surely the same as in Thailand, Rrght? According to Tank it actually is not. In Thailand the curry is rather sweet, not hot and they don't put these and those ingredients in. Kimiko was rather surprised but then continued saying how every Thai person loves curry, no? And Tank then said, no, he doesn't like curry that much. I had to supress my laughter so bad. Kimiko is often like this, assuming things and then being certain this is right. She even said that every Japanese person loves Ssshi.

You can't just say that! It's like saying every German loves sausage or every Italian loves pizza. 

The evening ended with John giving printouts with 'match stick puzzles' on it to everyone. 

The cherry blossoms are here!

Japan is famous for many things. One of them are the cherry blossoms, also called Sakura. When the flowers are in full bloom the Japanese pull out their picnic baskets and go to お花見. Literally translated: Flower viewing. It is tradition that you sit under a cherry tree, eat and drink alcohol with your friends or family. Why under a tree? Because it is said that the gods and spirits lived in the Sakura trees and in early times people made offerings to them, such as sake. It is a very important season for Japanese people and you also see a LOT of foreigners around this time. On April 1st I went with Taka to Shinjuku Gyo-en, one of the most popular flower viewing spots. The weather was really nice in the morning, sunny and warm. We first bought some food and drinks. Salad, apple pie, cherry tomatos, grapes and freshly made dango. Now off to the park! The people were actually waiting in line for getting a ticket (It costs between 250 and 500 Yen) and security guards controlled our bags, in search of alcohol (which is forbidden in this park) or other dangerous items. Finally we got in and found a nice place very soon. We packed out our food and drinks and began eating. Then, as if the weather knew we were just now getting ready to relax, it started to become really cold and windy and the sun hid behind dark clouds. We were freezing! We ate pretty fastly and then packed up to walk around the park so that we get some warmth back. It worked actually. The park was full of Sakura trees and it was unbelievably beautiful. People were taking 1000 pictures (those who took selfies alone looked really cringy), posing with the flowers. Friends holding branches in the right direction for the perfect Instagram shot. While walking I suddenly had a really annoying hiccup that only was over after 30 minutes (-_-). Still, even though the weather turned around so sudden and all, it was a very nice day!

Pictures in the gallery!