I was in the area around the Volunteer Center on Friday, and I saw construction crews putting up tables and the stage for the Jiman no Ippin Fair. It translates to "A Fair for Treasures we take Pride in." Generally, "jiman" has a negative nuance because Japanese society looks down on people that have pride in what they do (such as a housewife that boasts about her cooking, or a salesman that promotes his company's products or services), but in this case the fair is dedicated to people with disabilities.
Friday afternoon, before things got started.
I had to work from 2 PM to 4, then 5 to 7 PM on Saturday. There were 6 separate events at opposite ends of the city center all on the same day, and I wanted to sample each one for at least a few minutes. Maruya Gardens had a "wine picnic" in their roof top garden, the Jiman fair was here, Amu Plaza and Tenmonkan both had Halloween stuff for kids, Kotsuki river has their Meiji Restoration anniverary event until Nov. 4th, and Honjanji temple had their Bouzu Meets Fest. I got out of the apartment at 1 PM to stop by Honganji on my way to Maruya Gardens to buy English newspapers for the school. And while I did plan to visit the roof while I was there, I ended up forgetting. I went through Tenmonkan to get some photos of the event stage there, and then to Honganji on my way to the school.
At 4 PM, I went back to Maruya to look over the wine fest, then I returned to Honganji for a few more photos before remembering Jiman. I ran back here, arriving about 4:30 PM. At that point, things were almost as dead as they were on Friday when the crews were still doing set up. The stage events were over, and there were very few people hanging around talking or getting food. With nothing else to do, I continued on to the school before the 5 PM class started. At 7 PM, I got out of the school and headed up to Amu Plaza. I stopped by the river, and the Meiji Restoration event site was shut down. I got to Amu Plaza, and there was nothing going on there, either. So, I went home for dinner, and processed the photos that I had taken.
On Sunday, things were just as chaotic. I couldn't get out of the apartment until 2:30 PM (I'd really wanted to leave at noon, but things were out of my control). We still had Jiman, Meiji and the wine picnic, plus whatever Amu Plaza was doing for Halloween for young children.
Jiman was much busier this time, with maybe 100 people sitting around, eating and talking to each other. I arrived just as the taiko drum group was carrying their gear to their cars. After looking at the food tables, I decided to get a 3-cup beer sampler.
Cinnamon ale, mango IPA and an American-style Red. The IPA was VERY hoppy, with just a hint of mango fragrance. The Red was a little too soft, and could have stood a sharper edge. And the ale was just plain, down-right weird. Very, very strong cinnamon flavor. If it were treated as a seasonal beer, it might fit in with egg nogs and plum puddings during Christmas.
Funny enough, these beers were from the one brewery at the Beer Spray a week earlier that I specifically decided to not buy because I'd had enough of fruit beers at the time. But, the guy running the table today was one of the brewers, and he wanted to practice his English on me. So, we talked for a while, and he asked me for my opinions on the Beer Spray, and on beers in general. That was fun.
The 3 PM stage show featured three sisters that do traditional Okinawan folk songs on drum and jamisen. I've seen them once before, and this time I decided to record a few of the songs. The only thing left on the stage schedule was a kind of "finale" show, and I wanted to make sure I didn't miss any of the other stuff going on elsewhere, so I left for Amu Plaza at 3:30.
Direct youtube link
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