Another fire festival!

Martin and Chigusa had heard of a local fire festival at our local onsen. I tagged along to check it out. To my great disappointment, we were to late for roasting mochi (sweet [and gooey] rice cakes) but we were able to enjoy the other parts of the festival. We walked around the area, checking out a local glass making shop, the sight of the fire, and of course, the lines of festival food!

This fire festival was to burn all the old wooden shoes called geta that people wear at hotels and onsens. People burn them for good luck and health in the new year. They also burn the decorations that were used to decorate the temple for New Years. They must be burnt since they are holy and cannot be thrown away.

Here is the structure where the temple decorations and old geta are and will be burned. The round red things on top are called "daruma." They are used for luck in Japan. People draw one of the eyes in and make a wish. When the wish comes true, they color the other eye in.


All the geta...


Chigusa and I by the main fire site. This is also full of temple decorations to be burned. The giant wooden rectangles are designed to look like geta too!



After we checked everything out we did enjoy some festival food. I was so excited to see Hiroshima okonomiyaki. It was Christian and my favorite food on our trip in Sept! You can see them making the greasy festival deliciousness...


After dessert (a choco banana), the people started running with the fire. They started and ran to the site. It took them about 30 minutes. When they got to the site, they ran and chanted and screamed around and then attacked!

We thought the were crazy...running in shorts and shoes with fire in the snow...


Then everyone threw their torch on to the fire and cheered and clapped and yelled some more...


And of course...what better time for the fireworks...


They also lit all the geta on fire too...


It was cool watching everything burn but watching the shoes burn gave me images of concentration camp so that was a little unsettling...


After everything burned down the festival was over! It was an interesting and fun night...the only thing missing was roasted mochi!

Tokamachi Snow Festival

Every year there is a giant snow festival in the city of Tokamachi. Tokamachi is about 2-3 hours south of my house. It is the oldest snow festival in Japan! There are many events including snow sculpture competition, concert, sledding and festival food!

Christian and I headed over to Tokamachi around supper time and checked out a few sculptures and went to the terrible concert. Here is what we saw...

Here is the first sculpture we saw while driving in...


We thought this was a cool one but weren't totally sure what it was. Phoenix and tiger and maybe a cave...


Christian and I...


Gods opening a gate...


After checking out these sculptures we went up to the snow stage to hear the concert. The singer was Watanabe Misato. She apparently is a little older of a singer and popular among the middle aged crowd. We all thought she was terrible but had a great time dancing (to stay warm) like fools! The stage was made totally out of ice and snow. Lights and a few fireworks made it quiet a sight...


After the concert, Christian and I ate some terrible, greasy festival food and then meet up with a group of friends for a drink. They had these cute tiger sculptures by the food...


Christian and I...


After drinks Christian found our way home in a round about way seeking out a few more sculptures. The map was terrible so we got lost a few times but eventually found our way! We found this sculpture that I think was a "New Years" themed sculpture. It had a few tigers and samurai in it.


and us...


And the last sculpture we found (the one we originally went out looking for) was a "Pirates of the Caribbean" themed one. It was about 1 am when we found this one so there were no lights. We had to position the car in the most upright way we could and then turn on the brights to see it.



Me + the sculpture...


and Christian and I...

HAPPY (belated) CHRISTMAS!!

This year for Christmas, Christian gave me a weekend trip. He reserved a night away for us at a ryokan (Japanese inn) about an hour north of my house. It was a beautiful place, set back in the mountains and on a river. We drove up on Saturday afternoon through a terrible white out! The snow was flying up so baldy that the main roads were closed and we had to take the (elevated) pay highway! There were points where we could not even see the hood of the car! It was scary but we were so glad to have made it! When we arrived, we were shown to our private cottage (each room is like its own little cottage) and shown around the room. The woman also directed us to sit under the kotatsu (heated table) and warm up while she served us tea and cookies. We enjoyed an evening of hot springs, relaxing and a wonderful dinner!

Here are some photos...

We had to park across the river and walk over this bridge...


the river...



Here is our room right after we arrived. You can see the kotatsu table in the middle. There is a heater built in under it! This is one of the main ways Japanese people stay warm in the winter! I never wanted to leave it was so cozy!

The view out the back door...


Our room have 3 different hot spring baths. 2 were outdoors and 1 was indoors. This bath was the best because it had a beautiful view of the snow covered mountains and river.

The room also had ukata for us to wear. These are like kimono but made of cotton. Since it was winter, there was also an overcoat. It was presented so beautifully!

Me in my ukata...


Christian tied a beautiful knot which he learned in iaido (the art of sword fighting)...

Christian and I with our Japanese stern faces....

and not so stern...

Part of the service was a beautiful 6 course meal served to our rooms! The first course was 4 different salads...


On the tray was also this drink of strange bitter alcohol! We just thought it was cute being the shape of a heart...

Then there was crab and raw beef served on ice (with an adorable igloo)...

Part of the crab tray was this stuff...It is cod sperm. We both tried and did not like it.

There was this mini nabe dish with meat and veggies cooked over this little fire...

There was the fish plate with 3 different kinds of fish...

And dessert...

After we were done, she asked if we also wanted rice but we both felt like we were going to explode!!

It was a lovely and relaxing weekend away!