Floor Horsemen - Aichi edition - Oct. 25, 2015

On October 25, 2015, an event called Floor Horsemen - Back to Van City, held in Kariya City, Aichi prefecture. This event originated in Vancouver, and it was created and organized by some friends. Since there are a lot of dancers that come from Japan to Vancouver, they decided to bring the event to Japan. One of the creators even came to Japan to help put it on. 

I have seen the pictures of the previous events in Vancouver, both of which occurred while I was in Japan, and I really wanted to go. When I found out that there would be an event in Japan, I knew I had to go. Unfortunately, the timing was not so convenient, but I made it work.

I took a night bus to Nagoya. It left Saitama shintoshin station at 11:45 pm on Saturday evening and arrived at 4:45 am Sunday morning. The night bus was loud and uncomfortable, so I didn't get much sleep. 

This is the bus I took. 

Upon arrival, it was dark, cold and windy and too early to do much. I found a combini (convenience store) and bought a coffee. Then I walked around debating whether to check into a hotel for a few hours. In the end, I found Denny's and ate a bit of breakfast and drank a lot of coffee. I left around 6 am. From there, I decided to explore the city. I walked to Nagoya Castle. 

One of the iconic buildings around Nagoya station.

On my way to the castle I found a shrine upon a roof. 

Then I found a larger shrine, the walls were original, but the main buildings had been rebuilt. It was closed.

This is a shrine at a historic bridge. 

I can't remember what the bridge was called. It led away from a covered market area.

My first glimpse of Nagoya Castle. It was about 3 or 4 km from the station, so it took a while to get there.

A closer shot, and the best shot. I couldn't get into the castle because... You guessed it, it was closed. 

A statue near the castle. Don't remember who he is.

Castle walls and a former moat?

Let's play a game, how many cats can you find? There were so many stray cats in Nagoya!

A part of the castle!

This is one of the original gates for the castle. I believe this is the east gate.

I found a little shrine to the fire goddess for protection against fires. 

The main shrine building and its requisite torii.

A little altar at the end of the Torii gates. 

This is Nagoya station. It has two towers. It's a nice place. At this time it was around 8 am. Still early. No shops open, just convenience stores.

After visiting the castle, I went to Starbucks for more coffee. 

After Starbucks, I wandered around the city centre a little more. I liked this building.

I went shopping, and found this motor bike. It was only ¥10,000,000.

Eventually I left Nagoya for Kariya, where the event was to be held. I arrived a bit early, so I walked around the city, but there isn't much around there. 

The event was held at a music lounge called Birdland. It was a very cool little place, filled with all sorts of interesting collectibles. The event had a very relaxed and fun vibe, and the dance floor was open for most of the event. There was a live DJ and several exhibitions. Rather than try and explain it, you can watch a recap of the event put together by the creator.

https://vimeo.com/145017201

After the event I had to get home and go to work the next day. I took the train back to Nagoya station and caught the Shinkansen back to Tokyo.

It was a wonderful one day trip on almost no sleep. I'm really glad I got to experience floor horsemen in Japan.

Christmas has come once again

It's that time of year. The leaves have changed colour and fallen on the ground, leaving the bare bones of the trees behind. The wind has a crisp cool chill. The nights are nippy and the mornings biting. My bed has become more of a nest. And I could go on. One more: I have the urge to clean! That must mean one thing - Christmas! Of course, the obvious signs of Christmas are present as well: Christmas decorations, commercials and adverts, red cups at Starbucks AND 7/11 (7/11 sells coffee now, and they usually have white cups. However, they totally copied Starbucks and have introduced some holiday-themed red cups with snowflakes.), Christmas cake displays, KFC chicken advertisements, illuminations (AKA Christmas lights), Pizza-la delivery guys dressed as Santas, Christmas music, fresh strawberries are available in stores (Winter is the growing season. It's this way in Korea, too.), etc. Christmas truly is drawing near.

Today I took a day off, let's call it a mental health day, and I got all in the Christmas spirit. I baked Christmas cookies, I decorated, I put up Christmas lights, I watched Christmas movies, and I drank Christmas tea. It was a good spirit-lifting experience.

I should say, "I tried to bake Christmas cookies." They didn't really work. Why? I'm pretty sure I know why. Butter. Or rather, margarine. In Japan, every year around Christmas time, there happens to be a butter shortage. At this time it is difficult to find anything but margarine. I have lucked out and been able to get butter. However, the other day I thought I was buying butter, but it wasn't. I used this "butter", which came conveniently wrapped in two sticks, to bake sugar cookies. It didn't work too well. When I was trying to figure out what went wrong, I looked at the package and realized I had bought margarine instead :( There were warning signs. The "butter" was softer and easier to cut than it should have been, it was yellower than it should have been, it smelled more buttery than butter does... But I ignored all the signs and my gut, which pointed out to me that something was wrong. When you try and make sugar cookies with margarine, the shapes distort as they flatten out, making for some very unattractive cookies. In addition to using margarine, I used too much sugar... Oh well. They were still edible in the end, and people ate them up. Lessons learned.

It looks fine at this stage.

Still doing okay!

Eh? What happened? Margarine :(

After the baking mishap, I decided to decorate my apartment. I already have my advent calendar out, which is gorgeous, but I added to the decorations by putting up stickers on the walls, stringing some lights and putting out my Christmas tree (it isn't ready yet). 

I inherited the Christmas lights this year. They look so cheerful! 

My advent calendar!

Close-up for details. Every day there is a new decoration to hang on the tree. So fun!

Amidst the baking and decorating I managed to watch "the Bestest Present" and "The Santa Clause". I watched them while drinking my Christmas tea :) 

Mmmmm! Candy cane lane!

Also spotted in stores, are some special Christmas treats. Some will have to remain secret, but I'll show you a teaser ;)

Pepsi Pink!

Also, this past weekend I attended a bonenkai (忘年会), otherwise known as a "forget the year" party. They are akin to our Christmas or holiday office parties. This bonenkai was with my dance friends. It was a fun evening to just talk and drink and reflect a little on the year (some friends got married, some had babies, some got a girlfriend... Hahaha).

踊りマンの忘年会 Odoriman dance group's bonenkai

So, while it's getting cold, and Christmas is foreign here, I'm finding lots of warmth and a lot of Christmas cheer :) Can't wait to get the real thing though ;p