Japan Festival
Oct. 1st, 2007 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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jedusor and justme8800... photos and comments from the Greater Kansas City Japan Festival 2007.
Sorry for the crappy phone photos...
A red bean cake I got from the little snack shop on the second floor... along with some Pocky for Bill, and Japanese cheesy poofs for Linc. It was quite yummy!
After an interminable presentation from some grade school (they played that Japanese classic, "Chopsticks," on a xylophone and waved plastic cherry blossoms around... for like 40 minutes. Some people, like this teacher, never should be allowed on a stage, because once they're on, they never want to leave, schedule be damned!), we were finally treated to some seriously cool taiko... from, of all places, Olathe!
The practice sheet from my Calligraphy class... which was interrupted by some fool pulling a fire alarm and causing the building to evacuate, which meant we didn't get to paint on any white sheets to take home. Whaaa!
The didn't have Dr. Tsutsui ("Godzilla on my Mind")this year, but they did have "Commodified Romance: gender, sexual and class politics in a Tokyo host club," by Dr. Akiko Takeyama, which was almost as good! I knew about the "hostess clubs," which are essentially a front for organized prostitution, but I didn't know there was a phenomenon called "host clubs," where well-off women are wooed by feminine, aspiring young men. It's not as sex-driven as the hostess clubs, but more towards what the Japanese call, and highly value, "romance." This is everything from being told you have pretty eyes up to sex, but the attention and devotion are more the point. She called it "emotional work," instead of sex work. It was fascinating, and I'm getting a movie from Netflix that's supposed to examine the concept further, "Great Happiness Space."
A 50-year-old Bonsai, part of the extensive Bonsai display. They had workshops where you could create your own and take it home, but they said you had to water it EVERY DAY or it would die. I'm barely keeping alive the ones I water weekly, so I thought I'd give the poor plants a chance and bow out this year.
The K-State Yosakoi Dance Troupe was a gleeful, colorful assortment of about two dozen energetic and enthusiastic students. They've traveled to Hokkaido to perform, and while this pic looks chaotic, they really do have a wonderful act.
We donated to help the fest about three months ago, and my name showed up on this poster. It was only $25; I'm really surprised there weren't more donors at that level (which included two passes to the fest).
Just before we were going to leave, Clay's girlfriend Kylie showed up. So I asked Bill if we could stick around for the last performance, and he was OK with it. Yay! So I got to see more taiko, and Clay got to see Kylie.
The closing act was the fourth-oldest taiko group in the US, the six-member Denver Taiko. They did a great show, with a nice mix of traditional and original works. My favorite piece was one that a woman wrote as a memorial for her aunt, a founding member of the troupe.
It was pretty crowded all day, but they had plenty of food and events going on. All their workshops filled up fast; I was the last one to get into the Calligraphy workshop. When I got there at 11:30, they were finishing up a taiko workshop that looked REALLY fun, so next year I want to get there early for that. Thank you, Bill, for being on baby duty for the whole day so I could go play!
jedusor and justme8800... photos and comments from the Greater Kansas City Japan Festival 2007.Sorry for the crappy phone photos...
A red bean cake I got from the little snack shop on the second floor... along with some Pocky for Bill, and Japanese cheesy poofs for Linc. It was quite yummy!
After an interminable presentation from some grade school (they played that Japanese classic, "Chopsticks," on a xylophone and waved plastic cherry blossoms around... for like 40 minutes. Some people, like this teacher, never should be allowed on a stage, because once they're on, they never want to leave, schedule be damned!), we were finally treated to some seriously cool taiko... from, of all places, Olathe!
The practice sheet from my Calligraphy class... which was interrupted by some fool pulling a fire alarm and causing the building to evacuate, which meant we didn't get to paint on any white sheets to take home. Whaaa!
The didn't have Dr. Tsutsui ("Godzilla on my Mind")this year, but they did have "Commodified Romance: gender, sexual and class politics in a Tokyo host club," by Dr. Akiko Takeyama, which was almost as good! I knew about the "hostess clubs," which are essentially a front for organized prostitution, but I didn't know there was a phenomenon called "host clubs," where well-off women are wooed by feminine, aspiring young men. It's not as sex-driven as the hostess clubs, but more towards what the Japanese call, and highly value, "romance." This is everything from being told you have pretty eyes up to sex, but the attention and devotion are more the point. She called it "emotional work," instead of sex work. It was fascinating, and I'm getting a movie from Netflix that's supposed to examine the concept further, "Great Happiness Space."
A 50-year-old Bonsai, part of the extensive Bonsai display. They had workshops where you could create your own and take it home, but they said you had to water it EVERY DAY or it would die. I'm barely keeping alive the ones I water weekly, so I thought I'd give the poor plants a chance and bow out this year.
The K-State Yosakoi Dance Troupe was a gleeful, colorful assortment of about two dozen energetic and enthusiastic students. They've traveled to Hokkaido to perform, and while this pic looks chaotic, they really do have a wonderful act.
We donated to help the fest about three months ago, and my name showed up on this poster. It was only $25; I'm really surprised there weren't more donors at that level (which included two passes to the fest).
Just before we were going to leave, Clay's girlfriend Kylie showed up. So I asked Bill if we could stick around for the last performance, and he was OK with it. Yay! So I got to see more taiko, and Clay got to see Kylie.
The closing act was the fourth-oldest taiko group in the US, the six-member Denver Taiko. They did a great show, with a nice mix of traditional and original works. My favorite piece was one that a woman wrote as a memorial for her aunt, a founding member of the troupe.
It was pretty crowded all day, but they had plenty of food and events going on. All their workshops filled up fast; I was the last one to get into the Calligraphy workshop. When I got there at 11:30, they were finishing up a taiko workshop that looked REALLY fun, so next year I want to get there early for that. Thank you, Bill, for being on baby duty for the whole day so I could go play!