Oh, NOH!
(I apologize for my lame attempt at an interesting title for this post)
This past week was full of unplanned excitement, starting with an invitation from one of my JTEs to attend an outdoor Noh theater performance on Tuesday night. We went with some other teachers from around Kiryu and camped out with several hundred people on the grass of a public park in the nearby city of Niisato. There were three parts to the performance that we saw; 3 short dance performances, kyogen (which was a comedic story told in contemporary Japanese, so I could actually understand quite a bit of the dialogue!), and the Noh (which was about a butterfly/woman). It was my first live theater performance in Japan and I'm glad that I was able to see it outdoors, rather than in a small theater. My JTE herself was excited to see a more traditional "firelight" show. I tried to take some pictures, but unfortunately the lighting made everything blurry... hopefully you can still get an idea for the atmosphere.
Thursday we were "guest ALTs" at one of the junior high schools in Kiryu, which is always fun--its nice to meet new students and spend the afternoon with the other ALTs. Friday was a prefectural holiday so school was cancelled, however, as city employees the ALTs still had to work. It might have been the most boring day ever if not for the morning of pumpkin carving and ghost stories! Through the KIEA, 15 elementary school students attended a jack o'lantern making session hosted by the ALTs, followed by a Japanese reading of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The kids seemed to have a great time, and everyone was captivated by the orange pumpkins (in Japan, pumpkins are generally green and since there is no holiday association, they are simply enjoyed for their deliciousness....mmmm and they are delicious). My sources tell me that these pumpkins came from a farm in Hokkaido, but that orange pumpkins are extremely rare here. Saturday I went over to a friend's apartment to give out candy to a pack of children trick-or-treating with their English conversation school. Man, those kids were adorable. For a little while, it felt like Halloween in America!
the stage and natural backdrop at Tuesday's Noh performance
the group that I worked with at the pumpkin carving event... my favorite moments from the day were when I said to each kid "okay, now use your hands to pull out all of this pumpkin goop" -- their eyes almost popped out every time
final products and happy students!
many of the costumes were Disney based... my theory is that a lot of them came straight from the Disney parks in Tokyo, as there aren't many other costumes on sale around Japan for Halloween
SO CUTE!
there were twin girls dressed in great Native American Indian costumes that they made themselves, right down to a bow and arrows!
This past week was full of unplanned excitement, starting with an invitation from one of my JTEs to attend an outdoor Noh theater performance on Tuesday night. We went with some other teachers from around Kiryu and camped out with several hundred people on the grass of a public park in the nearby city of Niisato. There were three parts to the performance that we saw; 3 short dance performances, kyogen (which was a comedic story told in contemporary Japanese, so I could actually understand quite a bit of the dialogue!), and the Noh (which was about a butterfly/woman). It was my first live theater performance in Japan and I'm glad that I was able to see it outdoors, rather than in a small theater. My JTE herself was excited to see a more traditional "firelight" show. I tried to take some pictures, but unfortunately the lighting made everything blurry... hopefully you can still get an idea for the atmosphere.
Thursday we were "guest ALTs" at one of the junior high schools in Kiryu, which is always fun--its nice to meet new students and spend the afternoon with the other ALTs. Friday was a prefectural holiday so school was cancelled, however, as city employees the ALTs still had to work. It might have been the most boring day ever if not for the morning of pumpkin carving and ghost stories! Through the KIEA, 15 elementary school students attended a jack o'lantern making session hosted by the ALTs, followed by a Japanese reading of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The kids seemed to have a great time, and everyone was captivated by the orange pumpkins (in Japan, pumpkins are generally green and since there is no holiday association, they are simply enjoyed for their deliciousness....mmmm and they are delicious). My sources tell me that these pumpkins came from a farm in Hokkaido, but that orange pumpkins are extremely rare here. Saturday I went over to a friend's apartment to give out candy to a pack of children trick-or-treating with their English conversation school. Man, those kids were adorable. For a little while, it felt like Halloween in America!
the stage and natural backdrop at Tuesday's Noh performance
the group that I worked with at the pumpkin carving event... my favorite moments from the day were when I said to each kid "okay, now use your hands to pull out all of this pumpkin goop" -- their eyes almost popped out every time
final products and happy students!
many of the costumes were Disney based... my theory is that a lot of them came straight from the Disney parks in Tokyo, as there aren't many other costumes on sale around Japan for Halloween
SO CUTE!
there were twin girls dressed in great Native American Indian costumes that they made themselves, right down to a bow and arrows!
posted by Kris at
10:26 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home