woo, 30th post. Seijinshiki, Nekobukuro, and purple-haired obaa-sans

Woo! I got an invitation to Seijinshiki (the coming-of-age ceremony in Japan on the second Monday in January for all those who turn 20. That's the important age here, not 21). Exciting! :) Except that girls usually wear furisode kimono (the fancy kimono with the very long sleeves reaching almost to the ground) - and to rent one costs about $1000. Yeah, kimono are incredibly expensive. So beautiful though. My friends and I are probably going to have to settle with yukata or just a fancy western dress. ... Probably the western dress, yukata are cheap and casual. And generally thin cotton, which will be very cold in January.

Oh! Speaking of which, I participated in traditional Japanese fan dances yesterday. I had one practice and then did a performance for the dorm Christmas party.......... (which they also used to trick us into going to a sermon. Christian dorm. I wasn't very happy about that - wouldn't have minded if they just told us we were going to a sermon instead of "we're moving the party to the next room! There will be more food there." Anyway.)

Here are a couple of pictures.




I also went to Nekobukuro this week. I've been missing my cats a lot, and Nekobukuro is a kind of cat petting zoo on the top floor of Sunshine City in Ikebukuro. You pay about $6 to go in and play with about 20 kitties for as long as you want. Unfortunately they weren't too friendly, mostly sleeping in high, out-of-the-way areas. I'm sure they have to deal with just too many people. Still nice though, I got some pictures I'll put up later. I still miss my kitties though... Honestly, I'm rather sad I'm not going to be home for the holidays. First time away from home for them. I don't have any plans for Christmas (which is a romantic holiday here, sigh.) I'm visiting my friend Mari's family around New Years - going down to Osaka the 27 or 28, then Shizuoka, Nagoya, and back to Tokyo probably around the 3rd or 4th of January, though that's not set yet. She told me I'm going to have to "get over" my dislike of seafood though when I'm visiting her family. :( I've tried, I have been trying seafood here, and I didn't have a lot of choice on the Shirakawa trip, but I hate it still. I'm worried I'm going to have to eat everything to be polite too, and I just... can't. Argh.

Need to think of omiyage (little gifts) for her family too. I'm terrible at thinking of ideas for presents.

Hmm. There are a LOT of older women in Japan with their hair dyed purple or violet. Apart from that, they appear to be a typical Japanese obaa-san (grandmother)... I actually saw an older man today too with a purple hint to his hair. I have no idea why this is. It's kind of awesome (I love older folks who dye their hair crazy colors :p There was one really nice lady with purple streaks who came into the jewelry store one day) but random! Japan is usually not so hot on dyeing hair, except for bleaching it or making it more auburn. So there's obaa-sans in kimono at the subway and obaa-sans with purple hair, heh.

Not a terribly coherent post. Midterm essay and constant Japanese studying frying my brains. Definitely need a break. Classes go until the beginning of February, yuck!