Japan has hundreds of festivals, some famous, and some less so. We tried to talk about those, but only got to a few because we also talk about other entertainment and digress a lot.

Transcript

K: So, lately I’ve been thinking about festivals and holidays in Japan, and I think that’s because we’re coming off the holiday season, and we’re right in between Valentine’s Day and White Day. 

C: Yes, we are. So, White Day is the celebration of the color white. 

K: (laughs) Oh, right. If you’re outside Japan, White Day can mean – that’s a really offensive phrase, right? “White Day.”

C: Yup.

K: So, waito, it’s waito day.

C: Yes.

K: White Day in Japan is – so, I really like this system of Valentine’s Day and White Day in Japan. So, Valentine’s Day is the day when the woman gives chocolates, and White Day is when the men give chocolates. So, we’re not going to talk about any corporate connections for that, or any of the drawbacks. We’re talking about just the romantic level of it, and I like the fact that the woman gives the gift first, then the man reciprocates to the level that the woman sets. At least, in my mind. So, in my mind, if the woman – there’s like home, inside… what’s that? I always – Tokyo Hands, it’s Tokyu Hands.

C: Tokyu Hands, yes. 

K: Tokyu Hands. There are these kits for you to make chocolate from scratch and mold. So, I feel like what I don’t know is at what level of chocolate making and chocolateering is the tennis bracelet? 

C: Mmm.

K: So, for those that don’t know, you can explain what – I do not own a tennis bracelet, just for the record. You can explain a tennis bracelet for the folks at home.

C: So, a tennis bracelet is… a bracelet made out of fake diamonds that you pretend are real. 

K: (laughs) No. No. No fraudulent dive-ins. The real of it.

C: Oh, okay. That kind of tennis bracelet. So, a tennis bracelet is a bracelet made out of diamonds that you give to your wife to apologize for getting caught having an affair. 

K: Oh my god. You are just so jaded today.

C: You already said you don’t have a tennis bracelet.

(laughter)

K: High five on that one. That is not why I don’t have a tennis bracelet. I don’t have a tennis bracelet because I have something similar to a tennis bracelet that I think is much more beautiful. You bought me a sapphire bracelet, and it has every kind of sapphire there is.

C: Yes.

K: And I think that that was much more beautiful, and when we were talking about tennis bracelets, I was like, “I don’t get them.”

C: Yeah, I don’t get them either.

K: Like, a ring of diamonds on your wrist.

C: But I don’t have an expensive watch, either.

K: Yeah.

C: I have had watches in the past. I’ve had pocket watches but not wristwatches because wristwatches have always bothered me. I think the last wristwatch I had was a swatch watch I had when I was in high school.

K: Okay. I did not know you during the swatch watch era.

C: Correct.

K: Though when we met, I used to love saying, “I got my swatch watch on. I know what time it is.” (laughs)

C: Yeah. I was like, “you don’t have a swatch watch on. I’m looking to see what you’ve chosen for your swatch watch, and you are not wearing a swatch watch.” 

K: Yeah, no. I was actually wearing a Gucci watch. 

C: Yeah?

K: Yeah. I had a Gucci watch.

C: Okay. I don’t remember that.

K: Yeah. So, when Chad and I met, I was still exotic dancing and – I had stopped working – I was no longer a lady of the night because I exotic danced during the day. (laughs)

C: So like on My Name Is Earl – that show, the daytime stripper. 

K: Yeah. The daytime stripper, not a daytime hooker. I was a daytime stripper, and one of my customers had given me a Gucci watch. And, so, I had a Gucci watch because one of the other strippers had fallen on hard times and was selling all the expensive gifts people had

C: Had given them.

K: Had given them over the years. And, so, I got a Gucci watch with like 50 bezels for 50 bucks.

C: Wow. Because it’s hard to get even a cheap watch, I forget what the brand was, but we went and tried to get you a watch with bezels. It was like five bezels cost that much.

K: Yeah. So

C: Not a brand name watch or anything. Just a watch with bezels, so you could change them out. 

K: Yeah because I really liked the – so, a bezel is a cap that you put on top of the watch and you spin around. And then it locks into place. So, when we met, the quality of people that I was sleeping with; one of the people I was sleeping with stole it from me, and that’s why I don’t have it anymore. 

C: Oh, okay.

K: But you were really happy when the watch was gone because you hated that watch because of what it represented, and you were really happy that I didn’t ha- I don’t have anything from those times. I don’t have, like, shoes, clothes, nothing from that era. 

C: We hadn’t attended Sandra Bernhard yet, so I didn’t know about the “Gucci for your coochie.”

K: (laughs) Yeah. So, Sandra Bernhard turned us on to “Gucci for your coochie.” (laughs) That phrase, and we will always love Sandra. And that’s when I realized no matter how beautiful a shoe is, some shoes are just too painful to wear.

C: Yes.

K: Because I had the most beautiful pair of shoes I have ever seen in my life. They were also the most painful shoes I have ever worn in my entire life. They weren’t name brand or anything fancy, but they were a neon-yellow covered in crystal, so every time you walked they sparkled and shined.

C: Oh, yeah, I know the ones you mean.

K: Yeah. And they were gorgeous but also, every step I took, they cut into the top of my foot. And, so, literally walking from the car to our seat for Sandra Bernhard, my foot started bleeding.

C: I think those were Nine West. And I don’t know if Nine West is now an expensive brand because I know there have been some brands in the past that…

K: Started off really inexpensive.

C: Started off like… Coach. You own some Coach bags

K: Yeah, and all my Coach bags were way cheap.

C: Yeah, so, all of them that you own were less than fifty dollars. 

K: Yes.

C: And not at an outlet. At the Coach store less than fifty dollars.

K: Yes. And I was – I was shocked that Coach bags are 500 bucks a bag now. 

C: Right.

K: Like, Coach is up there with Louis Vuitton, now.

C: Yeah. 

K: Go – walk on Coach. Like… crack on with that. I’m happy for the brand.

C: Have your glow-up.

K: Yeah. Glow on up. Glow-up.

C: (laughs)

K: Glow-up, Coach. So… yeah, so, we got in on Coach. And, I’m sorry Gwen, but I never got into LAMB. 

C: So, I think to get a tennis bracelet in return for a Valentine’s present, that would need to be like cooking it from… I would say cocoa powder, at least. Not just taking a chocolate bar and melting it and then reshaping it. 

K: So, you’re cheap. You’re not going to make them grind the cocoa nuts themselves? I could just get you some cocoa powder and a form and cook it up from there and get a tennis bracelet from you?

C: I’m not buying any tennis bracelets.

K: (laughs)

C: I will never buy a tennis bracelet. I already told you my opinion on them.

K: (laughs) And I don’t want a tennis bracelet, so if you’re buying a tennis bracelet, mister, you are in trouble.

C: Exactly.

K: Because I already have, like… the gorgeous – and I don’t wear jewelry anymore. It’s rare. Like, if we get dressed up and go out, I do wear jewelry, but it’s rare that I wear jewelry. 

C: So, we have two sets of wedding rings: we’ve got our original rings with jewels.

K: That are gorgeous.

C: Yes. And we have

K: They are bejeweled.

C: And we have our new rings which are also gorgeous. 

K: Yes.

C: Which were less than ten dollars each from an online retailer because they’re stainless steel.

K: Yeah, and I can see why they target the young for things because I find the older – the older I get, the less I value things and the more I value experience. Like, I’d rather have great memories than an expensive bag. 

C: Right.

K: I’d rather take a great trip and then on that great trip, I don’t care. Like… I don’t need to stay at – I don’t need name brand things anymore. Name brands don’t mean anything to me.

C: So, I feel like Valentine’s Day here in Japan is almost like a Sadie Hawkins Valentine’s Day. 

K: Where, like, the girls get to let the guys know they like them?

C: Yeah.

K: Yeah. I could see that. Probably at the high school level.

C: Yeah. 

K: I don’t think adults are doing it that way.

C: I don’t think I’ve encountered Sadie Hawkins beyond the high school level.

K: (laughs) That would be a weird corporate Sadie Hawkins Day dance. For those of you that don’t know what a Sadie Hawkins is, I don’t know why they’re called Sadie Hawkins – like who’s Sadie Hawkins?

C: I don’t know. 

K: So, all you all that love to google when you watch our show because we don’t google a thing – Sadie Hawkins, don’t know why it’s Sadie Hawkins, but Sadie Hawkins Day dance in the United States is where the girls ask the boys to the dance.

C: Yes.

K: I only went to – no, I didn’t go. Nevermind. Bad story. (laughs)

C: Okay. We’ll save that for the other podcast. 

K: Yes. The darker cast. So, on the lighter side of things, back to – what were we talking about? What was I even thinking about lately?

C: You were thinking about holidays.

K: Okay. No, I was thinking about festivals.

C: Festivals. Yes. 

K: There are hundreds of festivals in Japan. 

C: Yes.

K: Hundreds of them, and every region – I think in just Aichi prefecture alone, there are hundreds of festivals.

C: I think so. And there are some that are recurrent, like we know that Nitaiji Temple has a festival once a month, and a lot of temples have a festival once a month on a particular day.

K: Yes. The temple right next door to my work has – they don’t have a festival every month, I don’t think, it feels like it’s every three months. And I’m so grateful that I have a parking space for my clients every time that it’s temple day because all the parking sells out, and there’s people sitting next to the parking in their cars along the street waiting to get in because it’s a really, really tiny, tiny, tiny temple. 

C: And I don’t go to your office so much anymore, but when Kisstopher first started her company, I would go to her office and do tutoring from there because I was doing freelance tutoring.

K: Yeah. 

C: On days that she was

K: And you were kind enough to tutor a lot of my clients who needed extra help for their master’s.

C: Yeah. So, I tutored primarily graduate students and some high school kids, but mostly graduate students. But I would see them set up with the food stalls and everything, so a Japanese festival is a very… organized thing.

K: Yeah.

C: In the U.S., I’m used to every festival is different.

K: (laughs) Every festival in Japan is almost exactly the same.

C: I feel like they’re kind of

K: Their regional street food.

C: Yeah. I feel like they’re kind of

K: Meat on a stick.

C: A state fair.

K: Yeah.

C: That’s what I think of them: like a state fair.

K: A state fair?

C: Or country fair.

K: I think that they’re more like the weekly street fairs, but I don’t – that could be a very California thing because Berkeley doesn’t have it anymore, but Berkeley used to have a street fair where individual vendors could come and sell their goods. And it would always be the same food.

C: Okay. Yeah, that’s the kind of thing that I’m thinking of. I’m not thinking of the particulars because the – festivals usually don’t have rides or things

K: Yeah, no rides.

C: But they have the same kind of setup where there’s the food stalls that all have the same kind of canvas look to them, and they’re set up in rows, and you walk down them and get your food. And, so, even non-food festivals have that.

K: Yeah. 

C: And the food festivals, that’s all there is.

K: Yeah. (laughs)

C: So, Rasta and I went to a gyoza festival, and… they had mostly just food stands that sold gyoza or, pot stickers as they’re called in California, which

K: So, what is a gyoza or a pot sticker because we’re international now, babe. We’re, like, almost on every continent.

C: I’ve learned at the gyoza festival that it’s whatever you feel like it is.

K: (laughs)

C: But it is mostly a kind of dumpling where you have a piece of dough with things wrapped inside of it, and then it’s either boiled or fried or

K: Both.

C: Or both. Or breaded. Or, there’s various ways to prepare them.

K: Which was your favorite gyoza?

C: The giant ones. And it wasn’t because they’re

K: (laughs) You’re like “the giant ones,” you say it with such – how big was a giant one?

C: A giant one was about the size of my fist.

K: No one has seen your first but me.

C: Okay. A giant one was about the size of my heart.

K: (laughs) Really no one has seen your heart but me.

C: Okay.

K: No, I haven’t seen your heart. Who has seen your heart? Have you ever had your heart – like a chest x-ray or something that showed your heart? 

C: I have

K: Yeah because you had asthma when you were a kid.

C: Yes. I’ve had a lot of chest images

K: I’ve never seen your heart, personally.

C: Okay.

K: But… apparently, it’s been spread far and wide.

C: Yes, it has. But only my child heart.

K: But give us inches or centimeters.

C: I think the big ones were about four inches long.

K: Wow, that is pretty big for gyoza because gyoza is usually about an inch long? Or an inch and a half?

C: Correct. Yeah. And, so, it was advertising itself as “the big gyoza,” that was the name of the stand was “the big gyoza.”

K: Big gyoza?

C: Yeah.

K: Okay. Like, that’s their jam.

C: Right. And, so, those I really liked. They were a dry curry, so… they had dry curry powder with seasoned vegetables and things, and they were just really tasty. 

K: Okay.

C: But there were also some super spicy ones, there were pork, there were vegetarian, there were vegan, there were

K: So, like, the gyoza festival is seriously just “come here and pig out on gyoza.”

C: Yeah.

K: Okay. And I know that the – they have a ramen festival, also, that Rasta goes to almost every year with a friend of his. I know you and him have had a running date to go but never seem to make it, and I think that’s because you enjoy going to the festivals with just you and him.

C: Yeah.

K: And, so, I think it’s – and he never wants to go two days to a festival because he’s the skinny one in the family.

C: Plus, there’s a ramen shop near your office that he and I both like, so.

K: Oh, okay, so you guys go to ramen regularly.

C: Right, just not to the festival.

K: Would you value going to the festival?

C: Yeah. I would like going to the festival.

K: Because do you like all kinds of ramen?

C: I do not like all kinds of ramen, but I like several kinds of ramen. 

K: Do you like white ramen?

C: I like Tonkotsu ramen, I think that’s what you’re thinking of with white ramen. That’s my favorite. The pork broth.

K: Yeah.

C: But, I have had other kinds of ramen that I have enjoyed.

K: Okay. So, beyond like the food festivals, our favorite – at least I think it’s our favorite festival – is the paper lantern festival.

C: Yes.

K: Which is deceptively named because I think of it more as like the paper crafts festival. I guess they’re all lit up.

C: It’s not named the paper lantern festival. It’s like the…

K: The festival of lights or something?

C: Of paper light.

K: Paper lights.

C: Yeah. I can’t remember the exact name of it right now, but it’s held in Mino city. Which Mino is famous for its paper craft, so it’s a chance to show off all of the paper craft of Mino. 

K: Yeah.

C: They – it’s like, Washiakari festival.

K: There you go, yeah. Washiakari.

C: So, washi is

K: Paper. 

C: Japanese-styled paper. Akari is illumination.

K: Yeah. And it’s just really quite stunning. It has everything from the skill of elementary school kids to really elaborate, fancy blown-away – like, I think one of my favorites to this day, two of them, one was the mikans – they made Japanese oranges, but the way they did it, they did individual strands wrapped around each other so that the light shown through, and they were very electric. And the piano. 

C: Yeah.

K: I thought the piano was quite exquisite because they made the strings of the piano, and I think the skill to get the paper that thin is amazing. 

C: Yes.

K: So, it’s a mix of paper cutting and paper folding.

C: And paper making, too, because some of them the paper was made specially for it, so… in Mino, they make paper of all kinds of varieties, so they could form the paper from fiber so that it wasn’t like a standard-sized sheet or anything.

K: Yeah. And, then, I feel like almost every state fair has tako balls.

C: Octopus balls?

K: Yeah, thank you.

C: Takoyaki. 

K: Yes. I was trying to not say – don’t say “takoyaki” because I don’t speak Japanese on the podcast ever. Uh… I’m still struggling – octopus balls.

C: Yeah.

K: So, it’s balled up octopus put on a stick and grilled. And, so, they take the octopus, they grind it up, they roll it into a ball, put it on a stick, and then grill it. I feel like every festival sells those. And every festival sells squid on a stick and, uh, meat on a stick. I feel like there’s a bunch of stick food.

C: There is a bunch of stick food.

K: Because there’s like banana on a stick

C: Yes.

K: So, every kind of food you could want is served on a stick

C: Yes.

K: I feel like that’s kind of a staple because it’s not a specific

C: It is.

K: At the gyoza festival, did they have gyoza on a stick?

C: Uh… there were a few places that did have gyoza on a stick.

K: (laughs)

C: That was their schtick.

K: So, something I want to go to every year that I tell myself that I’m going to go to is the shibori festival here in Nagoya because Nagoya is famous for Japanese, uh

C: Tie-dye.

K: Yes, tie-dye. Gosh, my English names for Japanese things is just – I’m spacing hardcore today.

C: Well, it’s interesting when you learn the Japanese first, and you don’t know the English because sometimes I have to look up “what is the English word for this thing” because I haven’t encountered it outside of Japan.

K Yes. Like, kisu is whiting. And I had never eaten whiting, which is a type of fish. 

C: Right.

K: Little, tiny white fish. I had only ever eaten kisu. So, for me, that’s hard to remember. And, like, shibori… I learned it as shibori.

C: Right.

K: And then, I knew tie-dye from the United States, but this is not tie-dye from the United States. It’s much – so much more intricate.

C: It is technically a tie-dye form, but it’s different.

K: Yeah because you tie and sow the fabric, and then

C: And then dye it.

K: Yeah.

C: Yeah.

K: And, so, tie-dye originated here in Japan, and Nagoya’s really famous for it. And I also want to go to the… ceramics. 

C: Mhm.

K: The Seto ceramics festival.

C: Yeah.

K: Which, Seto is the name of the type of ceramics, and also Nagoya’s famous for.

C: Well, actually, the Seto area is famous for Seto ceramics, but Seto is really close to Nagoya.

K: Yeah. So, for me, I tend to consider – I just have Nagoya swallow up the cities around it. (laughs)

C: Well, historically, that’s what’s happened. 

K: Yes. (laughs) Nagoya just keeps on expanding, and it’s eating all of its border cities.

C: We can see that in the Ozone neighborhood. You can see that it used to be its own city. You can go to all the different cities which are now the wards and things, so, yeah.

K: So, every – almost every shrine has a festival, and, so, literally in Nagoya you can go to – there’s like at least thirty or forty festivals a weekend. 

C: Yeah, I think so. I think you’d be hard-pressed to find a weekend where there’s not some festival somewhere. And there’s a big one surrounding national holidays. 

K: Like Marine Day is a huge one.

C: Right.

K: We only did one Marine Day festival, and we did that one by accident when we were here as tourists.

C: Yeah. We’ve done quite a few Marine Day festivals since then, but we have done them from our balcony.

K: Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because we can – well, we weren’t able to last year.

C: Just because it was cloudy.

K: And I think they’ve changed the radius of the

C: The height? 

K: Yeah.

C: They might have, yeah.

K: I think – I feel like the last two years, or I just haven’t cared the last two years?

C: Yeah, that might be it.

K: Because I don’t remember – I remember last year’s Marine Day being a really big deal because it was Rasta’s first time wearing a Yukata.

C: Mhm.

K: And learning how to tie his obi, which I think we talked about on a different cast.

C: Yeah. So, he went down to the port with his girlfriend.

K: Yeah. And he had a blast. But I feel too old for crowds.

C: Yeah.

K: I feel like, if it’s going to be crowded, I don’t want to go, and it’s going to take forever to get home…

C: Yeah. 

K: I don’t want to get swept up with the crowds of people, and the Marine Day that we went to, you actually had to carry Rasta on your shoulders.

C: Yes.

K: And we were walking along the train tracks because the train was too full. It was like a four- or five-hour train wait. And we happened on that one because (laughs)

C: Because we went to the aquarium.

K: Well, and I said, “there’s a bunch of people gathering outside. Something’s going to happen. I want to see what it is.” And you’re like, “what do you mean? That doesn’t make any sense.” And I’m like, “no, people are gathering. I think there’s going to be fireworks.” You’re like, “that doesn’t make any sense.”

C: You’ve always had a good sense for that.

K: Yeah, and so then we stayed and saw the fireworks there. The best time I’ve ever had was when we went with my old Japanese teacher. I’d really love to go back to that one where we had seats at the hotel, and we could watch the fireworks

C: That was in Gamagori. 

K: I totally would love to do that again.

C: And that was actually the Obon festival.

K: Okay. That was during Obon?

C: Yeah, that was at the end of Obon.

K: And I’d love to go to the fire festival.

C: Yeah.

K: I think that would be really, really exciting to do. The problems with the festivals is it’s really hard to get you to go to any of them.

C: It is. Yes.

K: Because, I think part of it is mobility issues.

C: Yes.

K: It’s really, really hard – and the crowds leaving are so aggressive.

C: Yes, they really are. There’s a lot of pushing and shoving and crowding.

K: Yeah. So, I think that – because the Gamagori festival was held at a hotel. So, I think we could probably get a hotel room and then get a barbeque area

C: I think so, yeah.

K: And then stay the night. I think that would be fine.

C: Yeah, that would be fun.

K: So, I think we should – oohh, that sounds like a fun way to travel.

C: Summer trip? Yeah.

K: Yeah. The only sticking point with that is I would have to – it’s harder for me because you work Monday through Friday, it’s harder for me because I work Saturdays. I could take a Saturday off for that. We should plan that.

C: Every once in a while, your clients… if they’re not aware you have a Saturday off.

K: What do you mean?

C: Every once in a while, your clients let you escape from your office. They’re like, “fine, go home.”

K: No, no. No. Never. Never, not once. They’re like, “are you sure?” Even clients that tell me, “I’m going to be on vacation on this day.” They say, “oh, my vacation’s canceled, can I come and see you?”

C: (laughs)

K: No. (laughs) “Sorry, but your day’s already gone.” So, yeah. And, so, don’t worry about editing out that sound. 

C: Okay.

K: Chad’s very, very, very, very careful with sound because of his own sensory issues with sound. His alarm went off. What was that alarm for? Let the people in.

C: That alarm was

K: (laughs) I can’t just believe I just said, “let the people in.”

C: That alarm was to remind other people that they’re supposed to be doing things. 

K: Oh, okay. Who were you supposed to be reminding in the middle of the day that they’re supposed to be doing things? Now, I’m super curious because it’s not remind me of anything.

C: No, it was remind Rasta.

K: Remind Rasta what? He’s on a train going home.

C: But, I didn’t know that when I set it, so I have it set so that it goes off certain days of the week, every week. 

K: Oh, okay.

C: I didn’t set it specially for today.

K: Oh, okay. Got it. Yeah. So, Rasta is my office manager, and there are certain tasks that happen on certain days of the week at certain times, and Chad is a loving father who supports his son, so he has alarms set to be like, “hey, did you do this thing?” (laughs)

C: Right, exactly.

K: “Cover your biscuits, or your mom will hulk out on you.”

C: Or it will be a festival of woe.

K: Yes. (laughs) Good way to tie it in. Because there are certain things that will make me flaming pissed if they’re not done on time because they happen every week. Every week at the same time.

C: Yes.

K: So, I think it would be really cool for us to look into some of these festivals I’ve been wanting to go to. Oohh, we had the most amazing time – I think one of our best trips ever was to Asahikawa.

C: Yes. 

K: And I think – so, for us, I think our skill is finding the popular festival and then going to the adjacent one.

C: Right.

K: Because we went to Hokkaido – yes I’m bragging and dabbing because yes, I dab, I don’t care, I’m cool like that. Don’t make me NeNe. (laughs)

C: Wow.

K: (laughter continues) I’m just showing the people how cool I am.

C: Okay. I’ll just be over here with my Charleston.

K: (continues laughing) Exactly. Don’t make me tootsie roll. 

(laughter)

K: Which I cannot do. I cannot tootsie roll.

C: Okay.

K: There’s like a whole song, “let me see your tootsie roll.” I can’t tootsie roll.

C: Oh, okay.

K: Yeah. It’s sad for me. I can’t tootsie roll.

C: I can’t do the teen wolf, so

K: (laughs) And I can’t do the wave either. 

C: Mmm. I know.

K: You know I really – because even now I’m trying to do it

C: Yeah.

K: I just don’t get what the elbow does.

C: When we go to football games, she’d have the trouble with the wave even there.

K: No, I can do that wave. That’s just standing up and putting your hands in the air.

C: Like she don’t care.

K: I mean the wave where you roll your hands and then roll it all the way from your hands to your elbows, shoulders, all the way across to your hands.

C: Yeah, I can’t do that at all. 

K: Yeah, I don’t know what the elbow does. It’s awkward for me at the elbow.

C: I’m not sure at this point if I could physically do it even if I knew how.

K: What?

C: The wave.

K: What do you mean you don’t know if you could physically do it?

C: I think that I would just be a serious of cracks. 

K: Oh because your joints are so poppy?

C: Yeah. 

K: Your thumbs and your wrist are.

C: Yeah. 

K: I don’t think your elbows are poppy.

C: Yeah, they are. They just don’t do the

K: Popping, not poppy.

C: I just don’t do that as much because that hurts when that pops. But…

K: Okay. Like my knees snap crackle and pop. 

C: Yes.

K: So, tell people about the Sapporo snow festival. In Hokkaido.

C: So, Hokkaido is the big island at the North end of Japan. One of the four main islands. Where Sapporo is the main city, and there’s a snow festival there every year. We did not go to that. Instead, we went to Asahikawa, which is North of there, and when to their snow festival in February.

K: Yes. 

C: It’s been a couple of year since we went.

K: It’s a snow and ice carving festival.

C: Right.

K: And we got there the first day – we got there the day before the ice carving festival started because they were still carving them when we got there.

C: Yes. Right. Right.

K: And it was absolutely stunning.

C: Yeah, so we stayed at a hotel downtown, which most of the hotels there were. There were the downtown hotels and then the skiing hotels. Neither one of us skis, so we stayed downtown.

K: Yeah. 

C: That put us

K: But you know how to ski.

C: I have never gone downhill skiing in my life.

K: But you know how to cross-country.

C: I do know how to cross-country ski, yeah. So, we stayed downtown, and we were within walking distance where we could walk downtown, and the main street had sculptures set up around it – in ice. 

K: Mhm.

C: And then there was a bus that went out to the snow sculpture area.

K: Yeah

C: So, the downtown was ice, and then the snow was out… I’m not sure what it is during the summer.

K: I didn’t enjoy the snow as much as I did the ice.

C: Yeah, the snow was interesting. There were some interesting things – there were interactive

K: But it was a lot of packed snow with things carved into it, which I didn’t feel like it was an actual snow sculpture.

C: Right. That seemed aimed at the younger kids because there were also a lot of snow slides. Like, there was a big snow slide, there were some smaller slides and things. 

K: Yeah. And Nagoya has a snow slide area every year.

C: Yeah.

K: Yeah.

C: Even though it doesn’t snow in Nagoya every year.

K: (laughs) Yeah. They make a snow slide every year, and they have a plastic ice-skating rink.

C: Yes.

K: That it’s faux ice, and down at Oasis 21, which is in Sakae, which is in the heart of

C: The downtown shopping district.

K: Yeah, in Nagoya.

C: Yeah. And they had, also, I think 50 feet tall – or maybe like… 20 meters, which would be about 60 feet tall

K: Yeah, those were impressive.

C: And the year that we went was Transformers, so it was a giant

K: Yeah. The Transformers were

C: Giant Optimus Prime and other Transformers. 

K: Yeah, and then they had a little maze.

C: Yeah

K: Which had little snowmen, which I feel like we’ve told this story before. I think we’ve talked about the fact that snowmen in Japan are two balls of snow, not three. 

C: I don’t remember that, but…

K: (laughs) 

C: I grew up in Fairbanks, and the snow was so dry that you’re lucky to get one ball.

K: Really?

C: Yeah. It doesn’t really pack very well. Because to pack a snowball, what you need is for the pressure to make the snow melt slightly so that it freezes together.

K: Mhm.

C: And most of the year in Fairbanks, there’s either no snow, or it’s so cold that the snow just won’t melt when you push it together.

K: Mmm. Interesting.

C: So, it’s very powdery. You get little things, but they just fall apart quickly. But Fairbanks has excellent ice. They have the world ice carving championships there.

K: Mmm. Interesting. So, I know that I love touching snow, so whenever we’re in snow, I tell you, “don’t let me touch it.” 

C: And then you do anyway. 

K: Yeah. Because – I’ve been frostbitten a lot when I was a kid because I like… strange fact about me: I liked to, when I was a kid, strip down naked and go run and dive in the snow. And then just lay in the snow because I liked that feeling of delirium that being cold caused.

C: Mmm.

K: Because you get high. It’s a high like no other, but it’s also (laughs) very dangerous.

C: “A high like no other.” 

K: (laughs)

C: Yes. I suppose it is. Let’s give it a name. How about, “hy-pothermia.”

K: (laughs) Yes. I think (laughs) hypothermia is a good buzz, man. (laughs) Do not get hypothermia. Do not take your clothes off in the snow. Don’t do it. 

C: Well, and one of the symptoms of hypothermia is getting undressed.

K: Yes. So, for me, I absolutely enjoyed it.

C: You were like, “I’m going to start with the getting undressed part.” 

K: Yes. And, so, like

C: Why wait for hypothermia to do it?

K: Yes. But I did have my shoes on because I didn’t want to lose any toes.

C: Mmm. Good. Yeah. 

K: (laughs) 

C: At least you had your shoes on.

K: Yeah. I had my shoes on. They were so – I remember my parents being so pissed off at me for that. They were like, “we told you not to do it,” but when they described it, they said you would get delirious. So, for me, I thought “delirious” always sounds fun because every time they said, “don’t do it, it’ll make you delirious,” I would do it. Like spinning around in a circle makes you delirious.

C: So you were one of those people who held your breath until you got dizzy?

K: Yes.

C: Okay.

K: I was one of those kids. Like, “don’t do that, it’ll make you delirious.” I’m like “delirium? That sounds awesome.”

C: My parents were always like, “don’t do that. It’ll be fun.” I was always like, “okay, I won’t do it.”

K: (laughs) So, there’s a lot of local festivals we don’t go to. Like, we don’t go to the naked man festival. 

C: Yeah.

K: And there’s also a lot of imported festivals. They have the Brazilian festival, the Thai festival – I did go to Oktoberfest one year, and I don’t drink beer, so that was an interesting choice for me.

C: Mhm.

K: There’s also Saint Patrick’s Day and like… I can’t think of any other international ones. I know there’s Thai, Philippine, 

C: There’s world culture day. There’s a Brazil day. These are on the individual groups to organize, so….

K: Yeah, and they’re all in the Sakae area and very interesting and fun to go to.

C: And then there’s some others that aren’t really festivals, but

K: There’s like Triennalle, which is amazing.

C: Right. So… that’s a… annual – not annual – an art festival that happened every three years for a while until the mayor got pissed off at the people organizing it and canceled it.

K: But, Triennalle was just last year was the year for Triennalle. 

C: Yeah, and it didn’t happen because of the mayor.

K: No, it did. 

C: Did it?

K: Yes. 

C: Okay, I missed it.

K: I don’t know if it was 2019 or 2018. I shouldn’t say last year because I have no idea when people are listening to this. 

C: Yeah.

K: They might be listening to this five years from now. I don’t know.

C: Could be. But the world

K: If it took you five years to listen to this, why? Why, people? (laughs)

C: If it took you five years to listen to this, thank you. 

K: Thank you for listening, long-time listener. Long-time friend, long-time Musick Note.

C: Yeah. Long-time caller, first-time listener. 

K: (laughs) Even though we don’t take callers. (laughs) Long-time tweeter?

C: Yes. So, there’s the cosplay festival.

K: Oh, yeah.

C: The world cosplay competition happens here every year, so that’s a big one people

K: I was about to say I remember that one from last year. 

C: Yeah. That happens yearly, and people come from all over the world for their cosplay to be judged.

K: And something interesting, LGBTQIA+ festival happens in July here.

C: Mm.

K: Not June, which threw me off because June is the month that it’s celebrated. And I think that it was celebrated the first weekend of July here was the parade – at least in 2019. Like, I never know from year to year when the parade will be.

C: Right.

K: I don’t march. I don’t march. I did all the marching when I was young, and now mobility issues, pain, and working on Saturday. 

C: Yeah.

K: I’m at work the day of the march, so.

C: Yeah. Any Saturday you take off costs you quite a bit because Saturday’s your busiest day, so.

K: Mmm. Recently, Thursdays have been my busiest day, and now that I’ve said that, Saturdays will become my busiest day.

C: (laughs)

K: Whichever day I say, “mmm, this is my busiest day,” then I wake up the next day and everybody wants a different day.

C: Yeah, a few years ago it was, “let’s do this on Tuesday because your Tuesdays you’ve never got anything,” and then your Tuesdays were full by the time the thing came around.

K: Yeah, and now my Tuesdays and Wednesdays are booked years in advance because that’s the “no cancellation, if you don’t come on a Tuesday or Wednesday, you pay me anyway.” 

(laughter)

K: And, also, I have skype-only days, so I like having the skype-only day because I can just – I want to say do sessions in my pajamas, but I don’t because hello, it’s skype. They can still see me. 

C: (laughs) What? These aren’t pajamas.

K: Yeah, like, “nooo.” And I don’t think my pajamas really look like pajamas because I wear V-neck pajamas. 

C: Mhm.

K: So, I think the neckline is a bit plunging.

C: See, I think that’s what we need to start selling. Merchandise. I’m thinking about when I was in band, we had to wear dickies. 

K: Mhm.

C: The fake sweater. So, it looks like a turtleneck sweater, but it’s just a little strip. You put a jacket over it, and you can’t tell that it’s not a sweater that’s not a top. Is something, and I don’t have a clever name for it, but pajamas with a little bit at the top that makes it look like it’s workwear.

K: For the purpose of what?

C: For the purpose of all the people who work at home who’s got to do skype calls.

K: Are you saying for when you have your business meetings? (laughs)

C: Exactly. 

K: Because you have like two or three meetings a day.

C: Sometimes, yeah. Usually, I have at least one, but sometimes I have as many as three meetings in a day.

K: Yeah. So, you wish that you had a sleep-dickie. 

C: Yes. 

K: Really?

C: Yes.

K: But they do sell those, babe.

C: Damn them.

K: They do sell those flannel pajamas that have that panel – that button-down panel that looks like a shirt.

C: I didn’t know that. 

K: How did you now know that?

C: I think I didn’t look at it because I didn’t want my heart broken.

K: (laughs) And I just – I just crushed your dream. Just stomping on your heart.

C: Yeah. My million-dollar idea.

K: Oh no. Don’t go into the dragons’ den with that. They’ll eat you alive. The dragons’ den is – I’m super explaining today.

C: Is it like the Shark Tank?

K: What’s the Shark Tank?

C: The Shark Tank is a t.v. show where you go in with your business idea, and they tell you whether or not it’s good, and if it’s good they’ll give you money.

K: Yes, exactly like that. 

C: Okay. You and I have watched Shark Tank together.

K: Have we?

C: Yes. Shark Tank is the one where the guy had the thing that looked like a garment bag where you could relieve yourself in public and nobody would know.

K: (laughs) And then that product came to market. That became a real product.

C: Yes, but the people on Shark Tank did not fund that one.

K: No, they did not. I remember that. I remember that. That was years ago.

C: Years and years ago. 

K: That was like 17, 18 years ago now?

C: Yeah. I have a really good memory for specific things.

K: For random things.

C: Random things. Like, if something only ever happens once, I’ll probably remember it. But as soon as it happens twice, I will forget all occurrences. 

K: So, the moral of this episode is… any time is a good time to come to Japan. I would say avoid Japan in July, August, and September.

C: Just because of the heat.

K: And the humidity. Unless you enjoy humidity.

C: Or unless you’re going to Hokkaido because Hokkaido is nice at that time.

K: Where else did we go?

C: We went to Nikko in August.

K: Nikko was nice in August. Nikko wasn’t bad.

C: Nikko is North of Tokyo. It’s pretty close to Hokkaido. 

K: And the bamboo forest in Nikko is gorgeous.

C: Yeah.

K: Just absolutely gorgeous. Although, when we went, the bridge was under repair, so we haven’t seen the bridge.

C: Yeah.

K: We tend to not go to cities more than once. Hakone’s a rare, a rare find for us.

C: And we haven’t been to Okinawa. So, Okinawa might be lovely in the summer. 

K: Okinawa supposedly is really gorgeous in the summer, so as an American, I just feel awkward going to Okinawa. 

C: Mm. Yeah.

K: But, I didn’t feel awkward going to Hiroshima. The first time, I did. A little bit. The second time – so, I guess we’ve done Hiroshima twice.

C: Yeah, we have.

K: Yeah, so we did Hiroshima twice, and I can’t think of any other cities we’ve done. Hiroshima. Kyoto. Mino.

C: We’ve done some other cities more than once because we were going there for other reasons, but to just go on vacation, I don’t know that we’ve done any other cities more than once. Like, we’ve been to Tokyo a number of times because we’ve had to go for my work or your work

K: Yeah.

C: For various things.

K: But Kyoto, I think we’ve done a couple times just for tourist and Hakone.

C: We started in Kyoto, so we – we flew to Kyoto as our first international vacation.

K: Yeah. And then the first city we stayed in overnight was Kyoto.

C: Right.

K: So… by default, we’ve done Kyoto a couple of times. 

C: Mhm.

K: And we’ve done all about Nagoya except I still feel like there’s a lot of Nagoya we haven’t seen because we’ve done public transportation Nagoya. (laughs)

C: Right.

K: And we’ve done some city bus Nagoya. 

C: Yeah, but we haven’t really

K: We’ve done mostly subway and train Nagoya. We did a little bit of city bus Nagoya, and now that Rasta has a car, there’s a lot of places

C: We haven’t really taken advantage of that, yet.

K: Yeah. Places and areas in Nagoya that we haven’t gone to yet that you can only get to – but someplace I want, I keep thinking I want to go to that I haven’t gone to is Higashiyama Park and Zoo. I know I don’t want to go to the zoo part because I’m opposed to zoos politically.

C: Right.

K: And I don’t do aquariums that have whales or dolphins, but I do do aquariums that have sunfish. 

C: Yeah.

K: Because the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but the Monterey Bay Aquarium had the sunfish for it to recuperate. Once the sunfish was well enough to be returned back to the ocean, they returned it back to the ocean. 

C: Yeah.

K: So, because sunfish grow as big as their environment, they can get to be quite huge. So, yeah. That’s my political thing for this episode. And if you disagree with me, I don’t care. (laughs)

C: Wow.

K: I don’t care. I feel like, if you support aquariums that have whale shows and dolphin shows have at it. Don’t want to talk about it. I’m opposed to it. Read a book, at that point. So, it’s rare that there are things I don’t want to talk about.

C: Wow, you just told somebody to go read a book. That’s pretty harsh.

K: Yes. Yeah. Go read a book. Read a scientific article about it. It’s bad. Bad for whales and bad for dolphins. And that’s just not debatable for me, so.

C: Okay. 

K: There’s that. On that happy note.

C: That festive note.

K: Yeah, with me all feisty. That’s me being my own fire festival. (laughs) 

C: Mm.

K: Something you must do if you come to Japan is river rafting. I think Japan has some of the best river rafting tours that I’ve been on. Have been in Japan. So I really like

C: There are several in different areas in Japan because Japan has a lot of rivers.

K: Yeah. So, there’s a lot to do and see in Nagoya. Not just – don’t come here just for Legoland. (laughs)

C: Yeah.

K: Come here for the festivals. (laughs) So, each, that’s us for today. Bye.

C: bye-bye.