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I spent the weekend of July 20th at Eric Marcil's place. An old friend from the same University and the same Japanese classes. He lives at about 30 minutes by train. It is quite close considering our original hometown! I met him near the train station Nishio where he was just about to give a Taiko presentation (big drums) for the festival with his international group (coming as far as Peru, Brazil, Indonesia, New Zealand, etc.). He is quite tall (2 meters), so he is easy to spot, particularly for a newspaper cameraman... The taiko show was quite amazing. It is like continuous thunder. That was really impressing. Bang bang bang. After that, there was a koto presentation (Japanese guitar), quite a change in style but still all the pure Japanese character! We walked in the illuminated street on Saturday night. The weather was perfect. |
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Sunday is the day of the dance parade in the same Nishio downtown streets. At 3 o'clock, there is a practice with all the same international group (about 30 people, some Japanese who wants to learn English both people mostly from outside Japan). There are more than 60 groups that will dance in the street tonight on the same music.This music was composed by someone of Nishio for the festival. It is a big competition where there are 15 prices for about everything from the best costume to the most memorable dance. Some groups are disguised in Egyptians, with kimonos, etc. It is really nice. Our group is simply a black shirt. The parade starts at 6h30. A lot of spectators are standing alongside the streets watching and laughing at some funny characters. Cameramen, news cars are there too. It is really quite a show. The music seems to last forever. It is getting long after two hours of dancing the same thing on and on but we are all enjoying the party. |
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At the end, we are dancing almost without effort so much music has penetrated inside our mind. And finally, all of sudden, it is over. Everybody goes to the main stage for the announcement of the price winners. Unfortunately, our group did not win anything but it was great fun. Back in the train at midnight. |
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