Saturday was day 2 of the Ohara dance festival, but from past experience I knew that the first few hours were going to be of school marching groups and brass bands. So, I wasn't really in much of a rush to get out of the apartment before going to work. I had lessons from 2 PM to 6 PM, and my main goal was to have an hour to get to the bookstore in Maruya Gardens to get English newspapers for the school, then swing by Shochu Street before going to the boulevard in front of City Hall for a satellite event there.
When I got to Streetcar Street, the area was packed. I had to find gaps in the crowd to see what was going on. At this stage, it was still just motorcades with politicians, event officials and beauty pagent contestants waving at people in expensive cars.
Only a few of the cars were "classics." The rest were more modern.
Omottesando Street (in front of MOS burger) was closed off to hold most of the food tables, and the main event stage. The Southern Cross girls were performing AKB48 covers again.
The only schedule I could locate listed 3 separate dental hygiene seminars. Weird combination.
And they even had a "Tooth Land" area nearby, but very few people really wanted to have their teeth cleaned when I was there.
Next door, Cross Music had a small stage in front of the store to let their students and teachers show off to anyone that wanted to listen.
The police had the streets blocked so I couldn't cross through the parades and motorcades to get to the other side of Tenmonkan to get to Maruya Gardens. So, my plan was to just walk down along the parade route to City Hall and cross down there and then double back. But, as I got to Izuro street, this bus came up and the crowds got really excited. I only had a few seconds to take this photo before the two guys turned around and waved in the other direction. I'm guessing that they're two of the main actors in the NHK Saigodon taiga drama series (Saigo, and his partner, Okubo, are local heroes, and helped ignite the Meiji Restoration in the 1860's.)
Then I really did get to City Hall, and the other events area.
Lots of food, games and travel booths. The main stage event at this time was a Kamen (masked) Riders ring toss for children. The actors not on the stage were out in the crowds for photo ops.
I assume this is one of the villains.
Pink Rider was positioned at the end of the stage to help children down the stairs so they would keep moving out of the way, and not trip.
Essentially, the stage event was a ring toss. The children had three chances to get the rings on the pegs of a target board a few feet away. I think most of the prizes were bags of snacks or sheets of stickers.
At this point, it's close to 2 PM, so I go in to the school, which is just a little ways away from the parade route. I could hear music, crowd noises and PA announcements all during my lessons, which was annoying. Finally, Ohara ended at 5, and my last lesson ended early - at 5:20. Still a bit too late, though...
After I got out of the school, I returned to Shochu Street, which would keep running until 8 PM. The only stage event, though, was a Nanko tournament. Nanko is a bluffing game played only in Kagoshima. In the adult version, the two players try to guess how many sticks the other one is holding in their hand, and the loser has to drink a shot of shochu. In the later rounds, both players drink.
The bluff, the guess...
and...
The reveal.
Eventually, the Masked Nanko Man himself got on stage to lead a round of rock-paper-scissors.
I'd started the day with my voice shot, and having to teach for 4 hours didn't help my throat any. I stayed away from the shochu, but I did want to get something to eat from one of the food tables. There's a Sri Lankan place in the arcade, and they were selling curry and a huge piece of naan bread for 500 yen. That was a decent price, so I got that. Afterward, I walked up to Kotsuki River.
I'd mentioned a few days ago that the area along the river is being used for the Meiji Restoration Anniversary event, from Oct. 27th to Nov. 4th. I did get back there on Friday to see what paper theater (kamishibai) or Kagoshima dialect lessons were going on during the week, but I'd arrived between shows, and just gave up and returned home early prior to teaching more lessons and then watching the first day of Ohara. But, on Saturday, after eating my naan and curry, I returned to the river. This time, they had a laser projection mapping show on the front of the Meiji Restoration museum. Unfortunately, it's a short building, and the projection wasn't that good. That ended at 6:30, and there wasn't much else going on, outside of some food and drink tables. So, I went home for dinner, and to rest my throat.
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