Dai Hanya, 2018

Ok, finally, I've gotten caught up on the other events from last weekend. I'd been waiting for Dai Hanya, the big annual yosakoi dance contest and festival, for over a month. I was surprised to see it was scheduled to be part of the start of Golden Week this year, and there were a few other changes as well.



In previous years, the dancers would perform at several different locations around the city on both days (Tenmonkan, Ten Park, Central Park, Kagoshima station and Amu Plaza), but this year, Wanwan Fest was in Tenmonkan, and KYT TV was in Central Park. I didn't have time to get to Ten Park (the other side of Tenmonkan) either Saturday or Sunday, but I was told by someone I know that he'd seen some dancing near there. And on Sunday, I had to go shopping at Aeon department store, and as I was nearing the main train station I could see one of the dance groups out by the bus circle. But, when I finished the shopping at 1:30 PM, they'd torn down the sound mixer tent and were already packing up the last of the cables.



I think there still was something happening at Kagoshima station, at the end of the street car line, but I mainly hung out at Dolphin Port, where the primary stage and judging table was set up.



Yosakoi is a dance style that originated in Kochi, in Hiroshima prefecture on the main island of Honshu, in 1954, but has become very popular in Kyushu. It's generally highly energetic and can be used to help people recover emotionally and/or mentally from big natural disasters (like the big, devastating earthquakes in nearby Kumamoto in 2016). Dai Hanya attracted 102 dance groups this year, from Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Kumamoto. The groups can consist of employees from ramen shops and onsen (hot spring spa) hotels, members of pre-schools, and university students. The groups can pick their own music, their own costumes, and their own dances.



The dancing on Saturday was something of an elimination round. Sunday afternoon had performances from the remaining groups, as well as combined performances where all the groups from one specific prefecture danced together to one song each. There were 3 of those big dances.



At about 3 PM Sunday, the top ten groups were announced, and they came back out again to dance one at a time. I didn't catch the names of all the groups, but #2 was JR Kyushu (members of the Kyushu Japan Rail train line company) and #1 was a university group.



A lot of the groups created good versus evil storylines, which were preachy and/or campy, but were popular with the audiences (I'd guess there were 200-300 people sitting and watching at any given time). A couple did love stories, and some just focused on pop-style dancing.


(One of the love story dances.)


(A martial arts/kendo-inspired dance.)



There were several hawks flying overhead most of Sunday, and at one point one of the hawks dive-bombed someone in the audience. But, no one was hurt.















This is where the dancers from different groups from the same prefecture all started dancing together.









It was difficult to find a good place to stand and shoot with the camera, because I didn't want to block the people sitting behind me. I did try to stay close to the stage, but sitting in one place for 2 hours caused my legs to fall asleep, and occasionally I'd have to stand up and walk around for a few minutes to recover. During one of those times, I discovered this group had sat down behind me. I liked the big block of color they formed and I tried to capture that, but it didn't come out exactly right in the photo.



This is the start of the top ten part of the schedule.






I expected that I'd already recorded a few of the top ten groups when they'd danced earlier in the day, or on Saturday, so I wasn't attempting to get all of them at this point. I got up and headed to the waterfront shopping building to get ice coffee from Tully's up on the second floor. When I got there, the next group came out, and of course this was the only one wearing masks this year (last year, there were 3-4 groups in the top ten that incorporated demon, monster or fox masks into their routines, and that was the part I'd liked best. That didn't happen much at all this year. Sigh). I had to make do by taking a couple photos through the trees from half a block away.



When I got back to the event grounds, it was much harder to get close to the stage. I was standing behind one dancer, and I liked the design on the back of his jacket enough to take a shot of it.



This is the JR Kyushu group. They're all train line employees. I'd seen them for the first time last year, and they did the same dance again this time, as well as on Saturday. I suspect that they're the same dancers, too.



Being at a completely different angle now, closer to the stage center, I was taken by how much the banners dominate the end of the JR Kyushu routine. I hadn't noticed that when I was over to the right-hand corner of the stage.



And, group #1. This one was made up of university students. At 5:30 PM, I had to get ready for dinner at the beer fest at Amu Plaza, so I wasn't able to stick around to the end of the festival. I don't know if there was another round of dancing for the top 3, or if they just announced who the winners were. During the break prior to the start of the top ten dances, several event officials and politicians came on stage to give speeches and to encourage everyone to come back for the other events held in Kagoshima during the rest of the year. If the same officials gave the same speeches a second time, then I'm happy I missed them.



In all, I had a great time here. I'd gotten to watch a little over an hour on Saturday, and 3 hours on Sunday. I shot over 250 photos, and maybe 2 hours of video. I even ended up resorting to using my new camera back-up battery, so that turned out to be a good thing to have, too, plus a second memory card.

I wrote about dinner at the beer festa a day or two previously. The ribs and beer were good, too. Not a bad start to Golden Week (Tuesday and Wednesday we got rain all day, though, so that part could have been better...)


Direct link to video 1


Direct link to video 2


Direct link to video 3


Direct link to video 4


Direct link to video 5


Direct link to video 6


Direct link to video 7


Direct link to video 8

Beer Festa, 2018

I'd seen a poster advertising the beer festa coming up at Amu Plaza, so I knew it was going to be the same weekend as Dai Hanya. The problem was that I'd be working Saturday, and I didn't know how busy things would be on Sunday, so I wanted to hit the fest Friday night, to drink some craft beer and eat meat for dinner. I had a bit of free time Friday afternoon, and I dropped by the plaza to see how the construction of the food booths was coming along. It's now about 2 PM, and the plaza is abandoned. Not a good sign.



The sign behind the stage says that things are supposed to run from 11:30 to 10 PM all three days, but it didn't register on me that the date is for 2017. I come back up to the plaza at 8 PM, after my last class for the night, and the place is still empty. That's when it clicks that the sign was wrong, and that the fest is supposed to be Saturday through Monday (Monday was a national holiday, and is the start of the week-long Golden Week period). Oh well. I go to Tenmonkan and have dinner at an oyster restaurant, and drink lots of shochu.



As mentioned, I had a late class on Saturday, and couldn't get out until 8 PM. That didn't leave enough time to get to Amu Plaza before things would end, so I returned to the apartment to eat konbini bento. I spent most of the afternoon Sunday at Dolphin Port, watching Dai Hanya, until that wrapped up around 6 PM. I got back home, checked e-mail, then went to Amu Plaza at 7:30 PM for beer and dinner.



The plaza was packed, and the only place to sit was along the flower planters along the sidewalk in front of the department store. I got a 4-glass sampler of Shiroyama Hotel brews for 1000 yen ($10 USD), then went to the other side of the plaza to get food.



There were only 3 people in front of me at the ribs booth, but as I was standing there trying to decide what to order, one of the staff started putting up "sold out" signs over the pictures of the food. Every time I picked an alternative dish, that would sell out, too. When I finally got a chance to place my order, all that was left was the plates of peanuts (300 yen), and the half-rack of pork ribs (1,500 yen). The ribs were good, but the peanuts were unsalted. We ended up getting a platter of sushi from another booth, a mojito, and a large glass of Paulaner beer (for another 1,000 yen).


(Steak and ribs)

I was disappointed with the drinks selection this year. Most of the booths were selling shochu cocktails, and commercial Japanese beers (Sapporo, Kirin, Asahi). The only craft beer was from Shiroyama hotel. I was really hoping to see Gen-Praha or Kirishima Brewing. But, not this time. Sigh. What we did get was good, but I think the total came to at least $60, which I knew was going to hurt a bit price-wise.



There were too many people, and nothing was happening on stage, at that time, so I didn't take photos. I did want shots for the blog, so I came back on Monday in the middle of the afternoon. That gave me a little face time with Kuro-buta.



The stage events alternated every hour between musical performances, and the MC leading everyone in the German beer drinking song. At 2 PM, the group was some governmental jazz brass band. Unfortunately, they'd taken a break and the leader spent ten minutes trying to teach the children in the audience how to respond in the middle of an earthquake. I needed to get new running shoes, so I took the opportunity to go to the Aeon department store across the street. They didn't have much in my size, and I came back to Amu Plaza after that.



There's an underground walkway that connects the main train station and Amu Plaza to the hotel and Aeon in the distance. The escalator to reach street level is just to the right of the photo. As I was coming up the escalator, I heard a young woman's shrill voice shouting out over a PA, and I took a detour from the beer fest to see what was going on. At first, it looks like the area here is empty.



Actually, a small stage had been erected at the end, with a sound mixer tent over to the side. On the stage were two members of Southern Cross, the Kagoshima version of AKB-48, talking to each other. No idea why, and no one else was nearby to listen to them.



I continued to the beer fest, where the leader had stopped speaking, and the band was preparing to break out into song again. And, what do they play? An elevator-jazz version of the Mission: Impossible theme song. Oh well - copyrighted music again. I gave up on recording it, and went downstairs to get free Kaldi sample coffee.



When I came back upstairs again, I returned to the other plaza just in time to see one of the other Southern Cross girls stop handing out plastic souvenir bags to passersby and disappear into the mixer tent. A few seconds later, she came back out and joined a few other members of the group, and they started dancing to a song played off a CD. Immediately, fans of the group came from out of nowhere, and pretty quickly there were about 30 people watching and shouting out interactively to the song.

Just as an FYI - AKB-48 was created in 2005 in Akihabara by Yasushi Akimoto as kind of a dinner theater thing that allowed the audience to get up close to the singer/dancers. In Japan, these types of performers are called "idols," and they do undergo strict training for singing, dancing, acting and doing voice work. In my opinion, though, looks go a lot farther than talent does. There are over 130 members in several AKB-48 spin-off groups based in cities around Japan, including Osaka, Fukuoka and Nagoya. The age range is between mid-teens and mid-20's. I think the mandatory retirement (i.e. "graduation") age is 25. AKB-48 has inspired at least 3 different groups in Kagoshima. Each group has its own nightclub it performs at, while the idols also attend other events around the city throughout the year. The Kagoshima groups are: Southern Cross, Seven Colors and Mingo Mingo. Southern Cross is the official spokesgroup for the Tenmonkan shopping complex. They are popular here, and do have a hardcore fan following.



I wandered back to the beer fest, and waited for the drinking song to start so I could take a photo for the blog. A little after 3 PM, the MC got up on stage and announced that they were going to have an unscheduled, surprise guest. This was followed by the Southern Cross girls running through the audience, giving people high-fives, and then going into the exact same song they'd given out where almost no one had been watching.

After this was done, I went to Tenmonkan and did shoe shopping. I picked up a pair of Nike running shoes. I'm hoping these last longer than the last pair did (that pair self-destructed after 7 months. I don't think I do that much walking every week, but I seem to go through shoes faster than I'd like.) The rest of the evening was spent processing photos for the blog and doing work online for another of my schools.

Busy, busy, busy.

NHK Days

The NHK TV studios are located next door to Dolphin Port, and they decided to have their open house and summer TV season fest on the same weekend as Dai Hanya. I arrived in the area kind of late on Saturday, and there wasn't as much going on then. So, I swung by again on Sunday. The back parking lot had a number of activities for kids, including a period drama costume photo-op. The woman in the background in flowing yellow and orange cloth might be from the Saigo Takamori "Sego-don" TV show, but she didn't seem to be interested in posing for photos.



Train rides.



Posing with the Sego-don characters.



Working in the on-site TV production truck.



Ashi-yu (foot bath) for those that wanted it.



Inside the building, there were coloring book activities, and in the back room you could watch NHK programs on 8K, 3-D screens.



One of the NHK mascot characters dressed up as Saigo, plus a random tourist from Scotland.



There was nothing going on at the NHK live stage again when I got there, and I couldn't find a schedule, so I don't know if I missed anything. Above, one of the stage hands was coiling up cables. He wore a t-shirt with another of the mascot characters again dressed up as Saigo.



Followed by the character himself. He was going down the parking lot driveway for some reason, just as a group of Dai Hanya dancers was heading for Dolphin Port. When they saw him, everyone excitedly yelled out his name. It's nice to be popular.

And that was that for me for the NHK part of the weekend.

Mammoth Flea Market, Apr. 28-29

Along with everything else happening this past weekend, we also had a Mammoth Flea Market at Dolphin Port, alongside the Dai Hanya grounds. As I arrived on Saturday, during my break between lessons, someone was trying to fly a giant fish kite.



The wind was strong enough, and it looked like he was going to get lift-off.



Then he entangled it around the light pole and that was that.
I didn't see anyone else trying to fly kites that day, and on Sunday, there was one person with a small, normal kite. Maybe next time.



Flea markets are also called "mottenai (what a waste) fairs" in Japan, and generally consist of people trying to unload old clothing, jewelry, and toys they no longer want. This one had a good 50 sellers.



There was a live stage, and most of the performances were traditional folk musicians, playing shamisen, and singing in the old style warbling voice. This woman finished her set just as I arrived. I'd have considered trying to record her at any other time, but Dai Hanya beckoned, and I kept on walking to get to that.



I came back on Sunday, and again arrived just as this shamisen duo was breaking for the woman to tune her instrument. The guy talked for 5-10 minutes on the history of this kind of music, so I kind of gave up and went to the Dai Hanya stage again.



The flea market had a jump room for the kids, and I kept wondering if this was supposed to be a Scooby-Doo rip-off.



And then we have the Yahoo-mobile "grumpy cat" mascot.

I would have spent more time at the live stage on any other weekend, but the dance contest next door was a lot more fun to experience.