Skip to main content

Stephanie- Kawagoe Multicultural Festival

Kawagoe Multicultural Festival

This last weekend I attended a festival in Kawagoe with the members of the Hippo family club from that area. Together we marched in a parade and performed several songs that we had been practicing, one from Korea and one from Mexico.  I played guitar along with a few other members and everyone sang. It was fun!
The Kawagoe Hippo club
At the festival there were lots of different groups performing and people dressed in different traditional costumes from around the world. For the parade, my Hippo fellow asked me to wear a traditional American costume, which is hard because the U.S. doesn't really have it's own national traditional dress like a lot of other countries do. What's the U.S. equivalent of a kimono? The thing about the U.S. is it's big and comprised of people from a lot of different cultures and it doesn't have a very long history as a country comparatively. So when people ask me what traditional American dress looks like, or what a typical American meal looks like, it's sometimes hard to say, because it depends on where in the U.S. you are and who you are and the specific culture of the community or family that that you were raised in. In Mexico a lot of people even told me that I looked really American (meaning blonde hair, blue eyes) which was strange because there really is no such thing as a typical 'American looking' person, but it's interesting to see the image of the U.S. in the eyes of those from other parts of the world.
Since I didn't bring much to Japan in the way of an American costume, unless you count blue jeans, the fellow from the Kawagoe Hippo club lent me a cowboy hat that she bought in Oregon and my host mom lent me her western-style boots. I suppose the cowboy is a pretty iconic American image, and America is good at being iconic; I'll have to keep working on improving my costume for next time.
My best attempt at looking 'American'. What do you think?
I had a chance to talk with a lot of interesting people at the festival, and my travel guitar was a great point of conversation. This man was singing a song for me in  Japanese set to the tune of "Amazing Grace".

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Maddie- The First of Many New Experiences

The First of Many New Experiences So, what have my first weeks been like in Japan? ABSOLUTELY BUSY! But, also...AMAZING! Truly, it has been a busy couple of weeks here, but not overwhelmingly so. Furthermore, I`d prefer to be kept busy! Too much free time = too much thinking = homesickness. By keeping a full, fun schedule, with some relaxing and downtime, I can keep engaged with my surroundings, make new friends, and stay sane. To prevent a wall of text, let me break down for you some of my recent activities. So far, I have: Presented about my life in Wisconsin to classes of middle school and elementary school students. Eaten kaiten-zushi, or conveyor belt sushi.  Been interviewed about my biggest surprise when I came to Japan (it`s bluntness in regards to appearance, people won`t hesitate to call someone fat, or tell you that you`ve gotten skinny since they last saw you. As I`ve seen it, it`s never been malicious, just matter-of-fact).  Post filming. To my ...

Daniel- Okutama

Okutama (Daniel) This past week, my eyes were opened to the fact that Japan is much more than a concrete jungle of lights and high-rise buildings. For the first time, I was able to head west to Okutama, a mountainous region on the west side of Tokyo Prefecture. Unlike the city, Okutma is covered with forest and greenery. The abundance of nature makes it a beautiful place to visit in the fall. Not too far from Okutama is Heirinji Zen Temple in Saitama, where I was blown away by the beauty of autumn in Japan. The purpose for my being in that area was to visit a kindergarten and to give a HIPPO presentation along with other HIPPO members. Among them was a younger gentleman nicknamed Tango, whom I hadn't met before. Tango and I got along very well, and he invited me on a hike, along with his friend, the next day. Tango's family owns a very quaint Soba restaurant in Okutama. The surrounding mountains and nature really give it a traditional Japanese feel. The three of u...

Stephanie-こんにちは!Konnichiwa! Hello!

こんにちは!Konnichiwa! Hello! My host sister Asuka and I in 小えど, Japan Hi everyone!  My name is Stephanie, but in Japan I've already been given the nickname  Su-chan  す-ちゃん    (su from Stephanie since the Japanese pronunciation is su-teh-fah-nee, and -chan is added to the end of a name when you are speaking to a younger person or a friend), so you can call me Su-chan! I am one of the five Hippo interns working in the LEX headquarters office in Tokyo this year. In addition to me, from Wisconsin, the intern team is made up of Tino from Mexico, Sakun and Ken Ken from China, and Hiu-chan from Korea. It's great to have such an international group!    Before coming to Japan I attended the University of Wisconsin and graduated with a degree in fine art. During that time I also worked for Wisconsin 4-H International Programs, which is how I first learned about Hippo through the 4-H/Hippo summer and yearlong exchanges. Last summer I had the opportun...