Minoh Festival

I went with Mocchi and Tomoko to the Minoh Festival last Saturday night. One thing about Japan - the people work hard, and play harder. Y'can't beat a good Japanese festival!

There were stalls selling food, stuff, games, performances by school groups, clubs.. it was packed with people and I'm surprised I managed to navigate my way through the crowd without spilling my beer once.

We sat by a stream, most likely man-made, and ate and chatted for aaages. It was really awesome! These are some kids messing about in the stream - wish I had joined them! It would've been a blessing in the steamy heat!

.. as we were about to leave, Mocchi spotted a fishing game that she hadn't played since she was less than a metre tall. I thought the balloons were filled with prizes, so figured that the more balloons you fished up, the more prizes you won.

.. of course, seeing as the game (not as easy as it may sound) only cost 100yen (NZ$1.30), all you win are the balloons themselves. They're filled with water and have a rubber band attached to them so you can hang them off your finger and bounce them around.

After the fest, Mocchi and I decided to hit the local Cote d'Azur karaoke joint - which I used to think was a bakery due to its name and the blue and gold colours. Much to my delight and surprise, I found.. BIC RUNGA in the song list!!! I had to sing it (read: tear it apart). Sorry Bic!

We finished up at karaoke at about 11.30PM. Mocchi was worried about me walking home but I told her I was armed with the two water balloons I had won. And believe me, it was probably the case of people being afraid of ME. I probably looked like the weirdo, walking home singing 'Tutira Mai Nga Iwi' while swinging the balloons as if they were poi.