better and better

our little beast
see all photos »

Emukae matsuri (festival) was an event Rumi-chan invited everyone too. Now, I have to admit to my scepticism of how good it was actually going to be. It was quite a drive to get there, a week night and, well basically, Rumi-chan seemed to be the only person who had ever heard of this "lantern pyramid" festival in the middle of nowhere. All of the teachers I spoke to prior to going had never heard of the place let alone the festival! However, all pre-festival doubt I had vanished in a second as we arrived. The place was "going off" so to speak. There were tons of stalls, lanterns, people, yukatas, beers, and smiles. It had the very typical Japanese summer festival feel to it. We made our way through the stalls, crowds and lantern lined paths, until we rounded a bend, conquered a flight of stairs and bang smack in front of us was the main attraction, a 50 metre high Pyramid compiled of literally thousands of lanterns. The thing was HUGE! A very impressive sight I must say.

a street of Emukae
see all photos »

Next to the pyramid was a large grass area lined with people watching different dance groups perform. Most of the dances were a mix of Japanese traditional dance / upbeat techno tunes. The dancers ranged from 5 year olds to 70 plus and all gave it a good lashing. Just when we thought things couldn't really get any better...they did. I was literally standing there watching the dances with cool tunes pumping out over the massive speakers, every minute or so I'd glance to my left at the massive pyramid to be awestruck again and again, when BOOM.... Fireworks began behind us. It was too good I tell ya! Too much goodness from such a small destination. But, yep, it then got even better!... I know I know... like how?! Well, at the conclusion of the dancing groups everyone was invited onto the field to take part, and so on we ran to do a Japanese Line dance of sorts to the crazy, but cool, music. It was like a massive rave or something, except everyone was drug free and still having a great time... fireworks, dancing, lanterns, fiancée by my side and Japanese people surrounding us... oh, what a night!

fireworks, dancing, lanterns, fiancée by my side and Japanese people surrounding us... oh, what a night!

awesome swords for sale
see all photos »

The weekend that followed led us to Karatsu for the annual end of summer beach party. It was a pretty fun evening with my personal highlight being the touch rugby (hilarious how American's just can't seem to grasp the no-throwing-forward rule. Again and again they had to be reminded!).

Sunday... hmm what happened to Sunday?... oh yeah, we slept in till 5pm. A perfect day of doing absolutely nothing.

The highlights from the week that followed were, getting my Japanese driver licence, complete with a photo of me with a dodgy looking moustache, and then picking up our very own car. We had decided to go our separate ways with Lisa on the Mirage, aka blowout, as sharing a car between three schedules just doesn't work too well. So we enlisted the help of the ever-wonderful Rumi-chan who managed to track down a pretty cheap K-car (small engine and cheaper to own and run) for us. The car is a beast in the most un-beastly type of way. It's a pleasure to drive and so small and economical.

candles are lit
see all photos »

With the newfound freedom of having our very own car, Karen and I headed to Saga city on Tuesday to meet up with Nick. We hit the swimming pool, had a tasty home cooked dinner at his place and then went to the cinema to check out the new superman movie... (all on a school night no less!). Having your own car rules!