June 26 - I went with a former student for a wander around Pacific Mall. We didn't buy much except for lunch/supper, some dessert from a bakery, and a bit of Japanese junk food.

My lunch, chicken fried rice on the right, and dumplings (which are covered in the lacy remnants for the pan - maybe i should've turned them over, lol). The dumplings were very good. Above you can see her digging into her rice and spicy chicken something or other.

Then we went to the airport to meet her BF and his mother on the way from China to NY, who supposedly had enough time to hang around a bit, unless something wrong, which it did. They missed their connecting flight, so i drove everyone back to her place. We're going stir-crazy from the 3 hour wait at the airport.

One of the charming views outside of the airport.

June 27 - "Gujo Odori is the annual Bon dance festival of Gujo Hachiman. It is one of the three most important dance festivals in Japan, held on 33 nights from mid-July until early September. On four of those nights, it is not uncommon to have over 50,000 people participate, the dancing beginning at sunset and continuing until day-break."

"On the evenings of 27th and 28th June 2008, we will recreate a traditional Japanese Bon dance in the heart of one of the world's most vibrant and multicultural cities. Over 70 singers, musicians and dancers from Gujo Hachiman Japan will be here to perform live and share their love and knowledge of this important cultural folk festival."

I got to the square in plenty of time.

A panorama composite from northwest to due east.

Reflection of the world's second tallest free-standing tower.

First a little preliminary dance before the official start.

Super-enthusiastic.

It began with some taiko drumming - this is actually a Toronto troupe.

Super-fast!

Traditional singers and musicians.

Then a stage dance.

I forget who he is, but he did the English interpretation.

Goth-loli! They asked the crowd to participate (it is a participatory event in Japan).

Most of the dancing was around a circle (the central lanterns). Which meant the people nearest to me were usually facing away.

Punk-loli?

Before each new dance, they gave the crowd instructions on how to do the dance.

Two Japanese girls (visible earlier on the stage). Pretty sure they're sisters, but i don't think they're twins (one seemed to be taller).

Can you beat them for adorability?

I got lazy and sat down at the other end of the pond away from the stage.

Uh, yes, even more adorable children.

Ha ha, odd one out. They all appeared to be a family - maybe she's adopted?

Hot! Hot! It was very humid, and the information booth gave away fans (i got two, and what i believe is a furoshiki).

The crowds were not huge - for one thing, it wasn't a well-publicized event. I imagine, if they'd hooked it up with somethng light Anime North, the attendance would have been much much bigger. I think it would've been awesome to have it set up more like a traditional Japanese summer festival, with booths selling food and games. It also occurred to me that if it had been held at our school, just the students interested in Japanese culture would have been as many. Also, we could have made the students join in as part of their Performance class, or Attendance & Participation marks, ha ha.

The dancing went from 5 to 8 pm. That was a lot of dancing in pretty warm weather.

Where i had last Sunday's lunch.

After the festival finished, i walked over to Jules, and had the world's best quiche.

On top of some club - the light is fading fast.

Skanky doodles waiting for the club to open. Do you think the rest wouldn't let the blonde wear any black?

Waiting for the light to turn green at Petter and Adelaide (notice my left turn signal is on, and my speed is 0).

Yonge and Adelaide. Blurry cars and people.

One of the organizers, Brent Borgundvaag, of the Gujo Odori dance festival emailed me, asking if i would mind giving the dance troupe copies of the photos i had taken of the performance, since they hadn't the chance to take their own. Of course i didn't, and i included the full res versions, and a bunch of redundant ones that i hadn't posted. As a thanks, he sent me this gift, which i received today (July 30th, 2008):

The box!

A card with a thank you note (and a 25$ Chapters gift certificate - already uploaded to my online account).

The front of the wrapped gift.

The back of the wrapped gift.

The package inside (and upside down, as i later realized). It's a package of handmade nikkei-dama or "cinnamon ball" candy, from a store named Omamiya in Gujo Hachiman, where the family has been making hand made candies for over a century!

And three of the candies!