Day 57: Gion Matsuri

Breakfast today was great: eggs, toast, ham, and fruit. Ryota and I played some hand baseball after we ate. Hand baseball is popular with the kids here in Japan, but playing in the house might be rare. I have to admit it is fun throwing Ryota out as he runs around the furniture trying to make it home. We played a little yesterday too and I threw the ball with just the right timing as he turned the corner, and he fell to his knees. I felt bad, but it was an accident and even his mother was laughing. I don't think it really hurt him, but he made a good show of it. Nonetheless, it was hilarious.

I put on my new yukata for the first time, and it is actually really comfortable. We delayed leaving the house for a while due to the really heavy rain coming down. Ryota wore a yukata with pictures of beetles all over it. Ryota really likes beetles and dinosaurs. His mother tells me that he wants to be an archaeologist. At the Gion Festival, it was hard to get a good view of the Hoko and Yama (floats) as they moved down the street. Everyone was holding their umbrella up, so only the first couple rows of people could see well. We did get a chance to see some of the Hoko and Yama pass, though. I was happy to finally see the festival in action, but the rain was a definite drawback. It would have been exciting to see my Notre Dame Elementary students in the first float, but we showed up too late. I saw the students later on in the news, though. Children in their position become part of the festival culture and are selected to represent the Shinto deities themselves. I was surprised to see foreigners taking part in the parade. There were several non-Japanese people helping to carry the floats in the parade. Some of the floats are 20 meters to the top! They are also very heavy floats, and the wheels do not turn. Therefore, the workers must lay out strips of bamboo under the front wheels, and then the men holding the ropes turn the carts as needed.

We got out of the rain for a bit and had lunch in an Italian restaurant on the Kamo River. The food was great, the view was nice, and the company was fun too. We shared our meal with Ryota and Junnpei's English tutor and some other friends. The rain let up a little, but not for long. By the time lunch was finished, the festival was over for the most part. We went shopping for some Gion Matsuri souvenirs at Takashimaya. I also bought some sweets, a Japanese cookbook, and looked at some Japanese pottery. I would love to have a set of Japanese style pottery dishes for eating back home. There are some really neat looking designs here in Japan.

After I bought the cookbook, we drove back home. I tried to take a short nap, but the sound of Ryota bouncing the soccer ball upstairs didn't really make that possible. The Kato's are my last family here in Kyoto, so they want to be sure I do the things I want to do before leaving. They are making my favorite foods at home for us to eat together one last time. Tonight, Reiko made sukiyaki....Ooishi! There was an interesting television show on during dinner, in which famous Japanese comedians did physical challenges. For example, they had a competition for who could swim the furthest under water. Even more intriguing was the sort of tag game they played against a famous marathon runner. It was a funny show to watch.