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Michael- Koto-ku Community Festival

Koto-Ku Community Festival

Wow! It seems like just yesterday that I was writing my last blog post, but yet it was really 2 weeks! I have been told it has gotten a lot colder in the U.S., so I should probably tell you I've only worn a light jacket once so far...And that was when the latest typhoon was offshore and pulling wind down from Russia. Otherwise, it has been amazing weather here. As always, I've been doing a lot, but I will talk about one thing I really enjoyed.

I worked at a Hippo booth at my community festival. The festival was held over the weekend a week ago at Kiba Park near my home. The park is quite large and known for the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art, but mostly it's cool because it has a suspension bridge over a canal in the middle.

The event was quite exciting for me as it was also my first Japanese festival. I want to say it was a mix between a flea market and a trade show. There were many tents set up in many different areas. Booths varied a lot. They had food (ooo the food), fresh fruit and vegetables, random rummage, blood pressure testing, clubs and groups, cell phone companies, relay races, etc. There were also a few stages with bands, dancers, and history-based performances. It was all a lot of fun and it was great to disappear from our booth for awhile to explore.

Our booth was in the International Friendship Circle where people from different organizations were either providing native food or selling crafts or, like us, playing games. We had a tarp on the ground and did some of our songs and dances with families who were willing to stop. I was asked to give my introduction in Japanese about once every half hour. I also spent a lot of time blowing up and shaping balloon animals, which we gave away as prizes. It was another great opportunity to spend time with many different members of the Koto-ku area clubs where we could just interact and talk without needing to constantly be performing activities. Afterwords, we all went to dinner and celebrated the end of a great festival!

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