This Is Fes!

Sunday I met up with Chika, Saori, and Vince at Nagata Station to go to Nagata High School's festival. This year, it was titled, "This Is Fes!" , named after the Michael Jackson documentary, "This Is It". It definitely had a MJ theme.

Also, I kept wanting to say, "This.... is.... SPARTA!" from 300.

Maho and I. She's a student at our school, and a third year high school student. She's a member of the tea ceremony club, and they were wearing kimono and serving tea and traditional Japanese sweets.

Maho and her mother.

Yuji (another student) and Chika. He's such a lady killer.

Saori and a group of high school boys. Same uniform, same haircut.

Nagata High School

This Is Fes

I don't know which club Yuji belongs to, but his class was having a shooting booth. It was fun, you shot corks at paper cups. I feel like this was banned in America a long time ago for being too dangerous, which it's not, unless you're a moron.

Vince, Chika, and guns.

Weeee guns!

Trying to make America proud. Vince assumed I would be an expert marksman since I'm American and all.... stereotype much?

All the classrooms have a huge TV.

Saori and Chika

Maho preparing tea.

Nanako (another student), Vince, and Saori

Me and Nanako

After that, I met up with Ayako in Minatogawa and we went to a festival there, which totally reminded me of the Carousel Festival in Burlington.

They let me dress up like a naval officer.

There were many different international foods, so we ate Sri Lankan food. It was delicious!

This band was walking past, and when I giggled, they wanted to take a picture. I love Japanese people.

Golden Week - Day Five and Six - Miyazaki

Bright and early Monday morning, I headed to the Kagoshima Bus Center, and took a 3 hour bus ride to Miyazaki. I couldn't find a hostel online, so I was staying at a Toyoko Inn Hotel, and OH MY GOD it was such a luxury. My own room! A TV just for me! A HUGE bed (compared to the small futon/bunk beds I had been sleeping on).

Since it was a little too late in the day to head out to Udo Jingu Shrine, I walked about Miyazaki trying to find a restaurant to eat the local specialty, chicken sashimi. However, the one recommended to me by the tourist information clerk was SUPER expensive, so I passed.

Downtown Miyazaki

Koinoburi (carp flags) flying in a shopping arcade.

Couldn't afford nice lunch, so I ate Mexican. Japanese mexican food is always funny for me, because it almost tastes the same, and the restaurants are always over decorated.

But they do have great presentation.

My flip flop tan is getting pretty serious.

Tuesday morning, I woke up around 6:00 to eat and catch an hour and a half bus ride out to Udo Jingu Shrine.

View of the Miyazaki coastline from the bus. I really wanted to get out and spend some time on the beach.

Udo Jingu Shrine

I bought 5 clay beads for ¥100 to throw and try to get into this circle. The first one went in! None of the other 4 did though.

You have to throw the clay beads from the balcony (left) to the rock with a rope circle on it (lower right).

Sitting by the side of the road in rural Miyazaki....

... missed the bus by 4 minutes....

... so I just sat and waited for an hour. Thank goodness for Stuff You Should Know Podcasts.

Around 3:30, I took a Limited Express from Miyazaki to Kokura, and had 8 minutes to run through a station with a bunch of other people to catch the last shinkansen to Shin Kobe. I was lucky, and got a seat even though I had a non-reserved ticket. All in all, it was 7 hours by train to get home. I'm super exhausted. But it was a great vacation!