Retro-update

Apparently I misunderstood; the blog does not have to be in Japanese, which is fortunate since the Kana input program on my laptop is getting fubar'd. At least I can still copy/paste kanji that I've got on hand. Besides, my Japanese is too limited to go into much detail on things.

At any rate, it looks like I neglected to post pictures of the Kimono Festival at 熊本城 last month. The women had to wait in line for a lot longer than the men did, simply because a kimono takes so much time to put on. It's very tight makes breathing quite difficult, but you just feel so fancy. I had a choice between a blue one and a purple one (they were all that would fit me), and one of the women working in the tent padded me up with towels and wrapped me up in cloth, went through the arduous task of putting the actual kimono on me, and then sent me outside for another woman to do up my hair and face.

As Chris is demonstrating, the men had less colorful outfits and didn't get make up or hair decorations. I bet they were disappointed.

Luckily the weather was nice and cool, so the multiple layers weren't overbearingly hot. I'm told that last year, everyone was complaining about the heat. Not us! Not with that delicious breeze.

I took off my glasses since they kept making a glare in all the pictures. Eventually I'll get my own camera, but as it was, there were plenty of people taking pictures. There were even random people wanting to take pictures with us, probably for the novelty of it.

There were children on the stage doing a performance. Utterly adorable. I missed the drumming part of the festival, unfortunately.

There was also a bazaar set up nearby where people were selling second-hand clothes, books, and other things. So, once we were finished with the kimonos, we got to do a little shopping.

Hopefully my friends can send a few more pictures my way. I know my family back home is foaming at the mouth for photos.