Japan - Day Seventeen

Yesterday was Culture Day in Japan, and my cousin Jamie's school had a festival. The school is called Kwansei, I think, and it's a junior high school, high school and university all at once. It's a mega huge campus. Once you get into this school, you go to university from there - and you're apparently "in" with life because it's a good school, and that's the main thing that matters in Japan. You get a job based on what school you went to - majority of the time, it doesn't matter what you even studied.

So all of the schools within the school were doing performances, had stalls etc. Jamie was in a skit about Santa Claus giving everyone their wishes; Jamie was in the Michael Jackson dance scene to the song "Bad" - he was one of the knife wielding guys in the knife fight scene. His moves were pretty good. Japanese school performances are like watching your old primary school end of year performances in a foreign language with an extra something I can't describe. It's the same - but quite different.

My aunty Kayo bought me a tea in a bottle from a vending machine. It was hot and sugary. It's the norm here.

ALSO - finally understand why the Japanese wear those masks over their faces. Swine flu has been around the schools, and the amount of coughs, splutters and breath that I heard/felt/smelled...I really wished I had a mask. Sure, I may have chosen a Hello Kitty one, but it's functional too...

So this is a self portrait that Jamie did. I love the pink hair.

The entrance to the high school.
Everyone, wait, you're actually walking into the bowels of a dinosaur.

Oh...you're ok.

I think I've said everyone has bikes - this is only a tiny snapshot of the amount of bikes I saw.

Cat Big Band.

My cousin Maria with her besty from primary school. They're 12. Kayo said that they are the tallest and shortest girls in their school. Reminded me of myself with my own friends so much with the height difference.

And then there were the clouds from Super Mario Brothers.