Michael comes to Kagawa!

First published: September 13th 2013

Back on Naoshima!

Michael Upsher and I at the famous yellow pumpkin.

Following my meetings with the new Kagawa ALTs at the Kagawa Orientation, my good friend Michael Upsher arrived in Takamatsu for the weekend! Of course, the timing being as it was, I was busy with the Kagawa Orientation until around late-afternoon. Michael had arrived about an hour before I was able to meet him, but had passed the time happily in a coffee shop I'd recommended to him above Takamatsu train station. All was well, and we actually ended up having another coffee after I arrived!

I hadn't seen Michael since my visit to Mishima back in June, and I was thrilled to be able to have him at my home in Japan. I must admit it always feels a bit strange showing people around Takamatsu and Kagawa as a tour guide, as to me it has become very status quo and normal at this point, rather than a tourist attraction. Still, I do enjoy it here, and there was plenty of places I was keen to show Michael (time permitting!).

I managed to fit in a quick tour of the Sunport area, showing off the ferry terminals and the stunning evening sky, before we had to quickly rush to my home to drop off Michael's bags (we also made a brief stop at the Aeon to pick up some new linen for him, as I had neglected wash the spare linen in his time for his arrival - whoops!). It was a very quick in and out, as we found ourselves heading back into town to join the post-Orientation JET dinner.

The new ALTs had all converged upon Za Watami for an evening of food and drinking in the traditional tabenomihoudai style (basically, all you can eat and drink). In many ways it was the perfect event to introduce someone to the local community, as well as offering me a chance to get to know some of the new JETs, too. We spent a lot of the evening getting more than a bit merry, with the evening ultimately ending with us heading to local bar Amazon and drinking until the early hours of the morning.

Angie!

I can this safely now, since - at time of writing - she's now my girlfriend, but I spent most of the evening trying to impress new the Scottish ALT Angharad Sian Reynolds (AKA. Angie) and make a good impression with her. This led to me drinking a ridiculous amount of sake as part of a drinking challenge set by Arran. Oh dear.

(Evidently it paid off.)

Drinks in Amazon.

Arran lowers the tone.

In what would become a running theme for quite some time,

new ALT Julia Collie is caught sleeping.

Despite the drinking, we weren't up too late the next morning, as made our way out to the ferry port reasonably early for our planned trip to Naoshima. Evidently we weren't the only ones who'd had a late night.

A sleeping passenger on the Naoshima ferry.

I can't blame the guy (or Julia) - the summer heat was pretty intense!

Michael had opted to spend his time in Kagawa exploring the island of Naoshima, which I've mentioned quite a few times on this blog (as it really is a terrific place to go and visit). We spent the day exploring the three art museums on Naoshima that I've often spoken of (the Chichu, the Lee Ufan and the Benesse). You can read all about my thoughts on those particular museums in my previous blog post on Naoshima, so there's no point repeating myself here. I will say that Michael was particularly impressed by the exhibits, just as much as I was when I saw them for the first time.

A new discovery; 88 Buddha statues made of slag.

Art exhibitions at the Benesse House Museum, Naoshima.

Incidentally, you're not supposed to take photographs.

The day was fairly relaxing with no real set plan in mind. We had a very lazy time on the island, despite moving between all three museums (I've always said that there's plenty of time to see all three art museums within the space of a single day). We spent most of our time just talking, really, and catching up about our various experiences since we'd last seen one another (in particular, regarding some of the crazy goings on at Michael's school, although it's probably best to leave all that off of this blog).

Staring out at the sea on Naoshima.

We made our way back to Takamatsu. Dinner was, naturally, at Thali Spice - the regular curry haunt of Takamatsu (and Kagawa) ALTs. I ordered my usual of mutton masala (spice level three) with a butter naan. Delicious. I also introduced Michael to the restaurants's well-reputed chocolate naan.

Dinner at Thali Spice.

We happened to run into the new ALTs again on the way out at the arcade next door. It was a fairly innocuous event, this time, compared to the rather intense drinking that had taken place the night prior. Michael and I called it a fairly early night, and headed home just to relax and enjoy each other's company.

Hanging around on Naoshima.

The next day, Michael had to run off pretty early, but we managed to fit in a bowl of Sanuki udon at my local udon shop. Michael was keen to have it in the place where it was made, as it's Kagawa's most notable food product around Japan. He certainly enjoyed it, though udon isn't the most exciting of foods!

Michael walks barefoot on the beach.

We went back to the same coffee shop where we'd met on Friday evening, and spent some time there getting coffee and waffles before Michael had to get his train home. Sadly, his departure came around all too quickly. The train ride back to Shizouka is pretty hefty (around four hours or so), and Michael made his way off just before lunch time. It's always the way.

Still, we'd managed to have another lovely (if brief) couple of days together. We'd already agreed that we'd be meeting again very shortly, so all was certainly not lost, and it felt good to be able to return the favour of the time he accommodated myself up in Mishima.

In the meantime, summer was still very much in full flow, and there was plenty of festivals and social events to stay occupied with just over the horizon.

The New Kagawa JETs 2012

The new 2012 Takamatsu ALTs, as depicted by Mary Than Vo.

From left to right; Luke, John, Saad, Yas, Julia, Lily, Angie and Mary (the artist).

Of course, being August, the new JET programme participants arrived across Japan, including in our own prefecture of Kagawa.

The groups of new ALTs always come in two stages (Group A and Group B), each having a separate experience at the Tokyo Orientation, before heading to their own placements in their prefectures. I had met some of the new Kagawa ALTs at the Sakaide Matsuri that had arrived in Group A, though it was not until the Kagawa Orientation days on August 10th that I would be able to meet all of the new ALTs. That day came sooner than expected, and only shortly after saying farewell to a few of my close friends I was presented with all manner of new faces.

I won't go into all of the details of them individually here, as they're sure to come up in my subsequent blog posts. However, it's a great opportunity to share a fantastic piece of artwork from the talented Mary Than Vo who produced the above picture of the "Takamatsu Eight".

Sakaide Matsuri 2012

Sakaide Matsuri 2012.

The Sakaide Summer Festival is one of the amazing festivals during the Summer season in Kagawa. This unique festival - where elaborate taikodai shrines are lifted around by huge groups of people while men dance upon them - really is unlike any other festival in the Kagawa prefecture. That time, had been separated from the other JETs and had been unable to participate in the event, but rather ended up just watching it and taking photographs and video of it instead. This time, of course, I was determined to actually participate, and help lift the shrine.

This would also be an opportunity to meet some of the new JETs in Takamatsu, too. With many old faces now (sadly) departed, the first group of new Kagawa JETs had arrived and would be coming along to participate in this event (despite only having been in Japan for a days). All in all, it was sure to be a noteworthy event.

Dressed for the occasion.

We travelled to Sakaide on the JR line in the early evening, arriving before the festivities officially began though, once again, the train station area was already overflowing with visitors. Having gotten myself lost from the event in the previous year by wandering off to take photographs and videos, I made a conscious effort to stay with the group and had even decided to leave my Canon 60D at home to avoid any distractions (it wouldn't stop me still taking plenty of pictures with my iPhone, mind you).

One of the Sakaide Matsuri shrines gets ready to march.

We were very quickly grouped together and assigned our various clothes for the event, which appeared to be a happi - a very loose fitting style of Japanese clothing used during the summer months. We wear also given headbands to wear, with the primary purpose of apparently stopping us from sweating too much. As always with the summer here, it was incredibly hot before we'd even started the event, and I have to admit I was slightly concerned about having to lift a huge shrine in this heat.

There was barely any time to make introductions to the new JETs, as I only saw them briefly before we were swept away to get dressed and ready for the event. I quickly made an effort of saying hello to whoever I could, though time was short and a lot of people were trying to do the same thing. Still, I managed to make a few introductions.

New JET Yaseen Akhtar: a bagpiper!

Arran with his sweat towel.

Before I knew it, we were parading the shrine around the square of the JR train station towards its final position for the evening. And then, almost suddenly, we were hoisting it above our heads as men with whistles danced upon it.

It was bloody heavy. And I was constantly dodging to make sure the huge wooden poles didn't whack me on the head on their way back down.

Heavy.

Inbetween rounds of hoisting this shrine (which was as physically strenuous as you may imagine), we were given breaks to go and refresh ourselves with cups of ocha. The ocha was served in huge buckets by the ladelful, with hundreds of hands reaching in to refresh themselves. The heat was intense enough as to be almost unbearable, but we endured quite contentedly with smiles on our faces.

The event carried on as the sun went down. It must be said that even though I'd seen this event from afar the previous year, it was an incredible spectacle to be up close and participating in this event.

Left to right: New JETs Yaseen Akhtar and John Bishop with senior JET Iain McFarland.

A wee rest.

The festival is "won" by the team which manages to do the most elaborate display with their shrine, hoisting it repeatedly up and down while hundreds of spectators watch. Our team wasn't to be the winner this year, but we still had an amazing time doing it. For many of the JETs who came to Japan with me the previous year, this experience was their second time hoisting the shrine. It says a lot that, as physically strenuous as this event was, they were still willing to come back for a second round the following year.

When the festival was finally over, it became our task to march the shrine back to its storage place: about a twenty minute walk away. As you can imagine, there were far less people carrying back the shrine to its point of origin, and we navigated our way down very narrow streets with the assistance of some rather drunk helpers. A few guys remained on top of the shrine to direct it, and in the case of those at the very top, to help avoid hitting any electrical wires (which are abundant everywhere in Japan). It was quite terrifying to look up and see these guys reach out with sticks and pull electrical lines away from their faces that were often only a few inches away.

It was very gratifying to see so many men, women and children open the doors of their houses to watch in wonderment at the shrine going by. It was even more dramatic to think that all of the shrines that had been at the festival that night would each be doing their own journeys, too.

Carrying the shrine back to its home.

We arrived at the designated spot and placed the shrine down in a sort of courtyard, next to a large building where presumably it would be placed the following day. From what I've heard, its kept there all year long until its needed the following summer. Quite something.

A well-earned rest.

After putting down our shrine for the night and leaving our happi behind, we indulged in a huge feast of Japanese food (including cold udon) and beer. This was a much better chance to speak to some more of the new JETs, though again, everyone was so tired and busy eating that priorities had to be accounted for. Finally, with aching shoulders, we walked our way back to Sakaide station in order to make our way back home to Takamatsu.

Sakaide Matsuri was an amazing evening one year before. Being able to take part in it up close was even better. An incredible experience.