So to get there I went down to Ohara Station again, where I had actually been just a week before (it felt a little strange to be back there so soon), and then I transferred to the Isumi Railway! This was my first time taking a train that wasn't run by a big company like JR, and actually I really liked it. It was interesting because the way the tickets worked felt more like being on a bus than on a train - instead of just tapping in and out with my Suica, I first bought a ticket from a vending machine (I love vending machines that give out tickets, for some reason) and then had to make sure I took a ticket once I got on the train to mark where I had gotten on, before depositing them both in a little box as I got off. Which is how the buses around me work if you don't have a Suica, so it was interesting doing it on a train. Plus, the railway is Moomin-themed! (Wikipedia about them here). I honestly have no idea why it's Moomin-themed, but with Moomin decorations in the train cars and even some Moomin figures along a lake we passed by, it definitely makes the train really charming and cute.
Then when I got off the train, after being greeted by somebody in a traditional outfit (I think a princess one? Not really sure), I did my first Japanese raffle (or lottery? I'm not sure what to call it). There's a little box with lots of different colored balls in it, and you turn the handle and rotate it until a ball comes out, and the color determines your prize. I just got the default prize (a bottle of sports drink), which wasn't very surprising (though the person in front of me got the grand prize!), but it was pretty fun to try. :)
I wasn't really sure where to go after that (they did give me a map but I am bad at those...) so I just kind of followed everybody else who was around until reaching the elementary school, which was the main festival area, complete with lots of festival food stalls and a stage! It was just about lunchtime so I got something to eat and listened to a performance by a high school band before deciding to head to the castle (it was the Otaki Castle Festival, after all).
It turned out the castle was a little over a kilometer away, but the way there went by a really picturesque river with lots of trees, which is not something you can really see in the city (or at least not where I've been). It was also apparently called Mexican Street (or something like that) - when I asked my friend later about the connection with Mexico, apparently way back when a Mexican ship was shipwrecked on a beach nearby, and the people in Otaki helped them out. Nobody else in Japan knew about it until later some dignitaries from Spain visiting another city mentioned it, and then when they looked it up in the town records they found out it was true! Which is a pretty cool story, I think.
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| Gorgeous! |
So next I reached the castle and found a lot of people in armor! There were even people playing kotos (I think) in kimonos in the background, which was pretty cool. I wandered around for a little bit but decided to head back to the elementary school to watch the opening ceremony for the parade, instead of heading back into the castle. When I got back, the mikoshi started to come in! I'm always impressed at how much energy they have and how much they heave them up and down, especially the women (who also look the most bad-ass, I think).
After that, the ceremony started, with somebody coming in on a horse (in armor!), which was pretty cool. I was right in front of the crowd so I had a great view, which was lucky since normally I am much too short to see anything (even in Japan, haha). Then all the parade members started coming in. There were lots of elementary schoolers, looking adorable in armor and kimonos, along with my JET friend! There were also groups of people who from what I understood made their own armor, which was really incredible - I definitely couldn't tell that they were hand-made. Other notable people include some prinesses, some more people on horseback, and a group in traditional Mexican outfits (sombreros and all). They all marched in and then the ceremony started, with some speeches and the debut of the new mascot, Otakki, who I had actually read about in a newspaper before coming. They also staged a fight on stage and had a demonstration with some guns, which was pretty cool! And then the parade started, though I decided not to follow them and instead just kind of chilled in the festival area watching the mikoshi get carried around again (they were still there) because I was lazy. :P
After the parade came back (I went out a little bit onto the parade path on their way back and was a little amused at how exhausted everybody seemed, though I certainly can't blame them), I met up with my JET friend and another English teacher for dinner! The timing was pretty perfect because right after they had gotten back to the festival area, the typhoon that was predicted for the day showed up and it started to rain. I did feel bad for everybody carrying the mikoshi, though, because they were still out in the rain long after everybody in the parade went home. Anyway, we had dinner at a little cafe where they go pretty regularly, apparently, and I finally got to eat tonkatsu, which I've been craving for a while (but have been too lazy to make).
After that I managed to make it home safely despite the typhoon (which luckily seemed to be letting up right as I was leaving) and the delayed/cancelled trains it caused. The Otaki Castle Festival was definitely different from all the other festivals I've been to in Japan, so I'm really glad that I went! If I go again next year I think I'll definitely want to go take a look at the castle, too.
