Zsup~!

Well, the time has finally come and today is the departure date for my wonderfulawesomeluckyonceinalifetime trip to Tohoku.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I would provide more details about where I would be heading to. *apologises for failure to blog due to mad weeks after the inauguration ceremony* (Had some cosplay thing to do, outings to manage, tuition to teach, MAN this is the busiest holidays I've EVER had) Anyways, the 100 students selected were split into 3 groups (Well now less than 100 as some have withdrawn), and then further sub-divided into another 3 teams. I was in group A, which meant that I would be heading to Yamagata Prefecture to experience the Hanagasa Matsuri!!!!

Some interesting things found during research.

1) Hanagasa (花笠): actually refers to the flower hat that performers wear during the festival.
2) It is one of the 4 greatest festivals in the Tohoku region, ranked among the Sendai Tanabata Matsuri (That I will be attending as well), the Akita Kanto Matsuri, and the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri.
3) It originated from Obanazawa City to the North of Yamagata prefecture.

Not a lot of information is available online (as usual) so I will make it a point to emphasise about the festival during my blogposts. :D

Among other things, we will be climbing (?) Mount Zao, participating in the Sendai Tanabata Matsuri, having an onsen experience (the atas kind in hotel lol as compared to my previous outdoor onsen experiences), visiting the Sendai Airport, as well as possibly doing some relief work at Rikuzentakata.

While I expect that the efforts on my two puny hands will barely put a dent in the amount of work that the Japanese have on theirs, I sincerely hope that I do get the chance to do the relief work, to sweat under the sun, as one with their people because that has always been what I wanted to do after the disaster (economic and academic circumstances brought that down to a NIL).

Anyways, time for last minute checks to ensure that all I need is brought along. Stay tuned for most posts! And do comment! I always enjoy reading them (however few I have T.T)

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