spirit of the dance

This past weekend was yet another road trip, this time to Sapporo for yosakoi. Yosakoi is a kind of traditional dance from the south of Japan that originated with fishermen (I’ve been told), but has become popular with women (housewives and teenage girls alike), evolved and grown… the yosakoi competition ran till Sunday and the competition was fierce, with the more traditional, elegant dances contrasting with hip-hop-, jazz-infused choreography. The teams also obviously spent a lot of time on their costumes and Sapp-town was unusually colourful as hordes of yosakoi-ers rampaged through the streets in silks and patterns. Also there were a lot of cute boys with eyeliner, which I love.

So I was lucky enough to sit right at the front of the main stage for a while, attempting to take photos as the dancers whirled around and heads bobbed in front of me. The music was loud and very danceable and I find myself with an unaccountable need to try find a cd of electric shamisen music. I have been in this country too long.

In any case Sapporo was severely crowded which kind of aggravated my sense of claustrophobia, and made me even more tired than I was (party on Friday night followed by a four-hour drive from Otofuke to Sapp-town). However eventually the second wind kicked in and we headed off for yet another night of Thriller karaoke, pirikura, and then… Rad Brothers. I had sworn never to got there again. That place is just… debauched. Oh well, an evening without transvestites and people biting Stephen and dancing on a bar is barely an evening at all.

How to be sick, like the doggie.

eck. So, the musical is over, Erin has left for Tokyo (and lots of sex with her hubby), we have a new Erin, Greg (a.k.a Gurekku, a.k.a Erin 2, a.k.a Erinboy). Last weekend we had a Taikiparty, in Taiki (hence the name, see how we did that there?) i.e. Stephen's town. Well, actually on Friday night we had a barbecue at Jeremy's house, where Sara and I drank a lot of red wine... I ended up attempting to wrestle Kajsa, which was a very bad idea, as she's twice my height and I ended up eating floor.
I then spent most of the next day being told that I am very tiny, you know.

Saturday was spent resting and vaguely cleaning Jeremy's house (barbecue mess is the most disgusting the next day, in my opinion), going to McDonald's (cheeseburger+ grilled chicken sando+ petit pancakes with apple icing+ ginger ale...yum). We noticed at least 3 couples on a McDate, which is a pretty Japanese phenomenon... You get all dressed up and take your GF on a romantic date to McDonarudo...And I'm talking twentysomethings here, not cash-strapped teens....

after a wee jaunt to Toys R Us, we picked up Greg and headed to Taiki, where we made Tacos, drank beer, and got Dan very drunk (3 beers). This is his first really drunk experience and he was very funny. We are slowly introducing him to the art of being cool. (we've worked on his dress sense a bit and encouraged him to ask girls out, which means he's gotten some dates...And some bootay). So handling his alcohol is the next step.

the next morning we gave D a haircut... He was attempting to grow a Jewfro and it wasn't really working for him, so Sara gave him an Emo-ish, indie haircut, and we both warned him against the dread middle parting. He looks way better now. Next step: indie-emo thick-framed glasses.

anyway, by Sunday night Sara, Stephen and I all felt pretty bad, and realised we had come down with the same cold... By Tuesday I couldn't get up, so I have so far missed two days of school... I haven't showered since Sunday and I'm all mucousy...Lovely. This weekend we're heading to Sapporo for the Yosakoi Dance festival, so I need to be healthy by then...