Nebuta Festival

So I haven't posted in awhile, and that just isn't okay.  So many things have happened!  Travis and I went back to Canada for a bit - GOT MARRIED... and you know, other crazy stuff.

This past weekend we managed to hit one of the festivals that I promised myself we would attend while we were living in Japan.  The Nebuta Festival in Aomori-city, Aomori-prefecture.  Touted as the best festival (and parade) in Northern Japan I was expecting a lot when we went.  We were definitely not disappointed!  Delicious street food, wonderful music, and two full hours of some of the largest and most detailed floats I have ever seen in my life.

According to Wikipedia (August 5th Ed.) the Nebuta Festival is Japanese summer festival. "Nebuta" refers to the float of a brave warrior-figure which is carried through the center of the city, while dancers wearing a unique type of costume called haneto (ハネト) dance around in time with the chant Rasserā (ラッセラー). In the local dialect, participation in the festival is inquired using the verb haneru (ハネル, ex. "今日もハネル?" or "Are you going to haneru today?"), which was derived from the Japanese spelling of the haneto costume and the verb haneru (跳ねる, "bounce").

Travis took some amazing pictures, and I got a few videos that should help us remember the event fondly.

 

Towadako Fireworks Festival

The Lake Towada Fireworks festival was so much fun this year.  Of course, the fireworks were amazing, but even more fun was just spending the day at the beach.  A beautiful sunny day, with only a few clouds in the sky it was like we didn't have a care in the world. 

As always, my resident photographer got some great shots!

Remembering March 11, 2011

The Japanese remember March 11, 2011. The 4th largest earthquake in recorded history, and a tsunami that reached 133 feet. View it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS-sWdAQsYg&feature=share

Japanglish

In Korea we referred to it as Konglish, in Japan I've heard it referred to as many things, but mostly by the term "Japanglish".  It means the integration of the English language into the native language.  Konglish is Korean "English", and Japanglish is Japanese "English".  I saying English in quotation marks because most terms use English words, but are not used in any way that a native English speaker would use them.

In Korea, the most popular example was "Hand Phone".  Both words are common known English words, however if someone in Saskatoon ever asked to borrow a Handphone you would probably ask them to repeat or explain themselves.  In Korea they are simply asking to borrow your cellphone.  Easy to see the connection, right?   You probably guessed it before I even told you what it 'meant'. 

In Japan, I've found it isn't usually a single word that gets used as Japanglish, but entire phrases or sentences.  The best example I have found so far is the tag for a pair of overalls that I found at a Japanese clothing store called Avail.

 

What I originally assumed was this was written in Japanese and then translated into English using Google Translate (or some other online translation site that is notoriously bad for its exact translations without thoughts to grammar, sentence structure, or overall tone.)  because someone thought the overalls would be "cooler" that way.

But if you believe that theory to be true... then the Japanese really do want me to value these overalls as I would value a boyfriend?

Something to think about...