Sun. Sept. 14, Mon. Sept. 15 – Galileo’s guesthouse and Monday afternoon karaoke

On Sunday, I really wanted to check out Vitamin G’s (aka my Filipino brother from another mother) matsuri (“festival”) in Ishikawa. I randomly texted H. for a ride there, and mentioned that we had some JET friends in common. (H. has been dubbed the “King of Fukushima” lol). He kindly drove myself and some other JETs, so that was grrrrrreat!

G’s lovely abode is tucked away from plain view, so we first saw his gravel driveway with a small trailer on the left. We kept joking that it was his guesthouse, and I think I have a picture of it somewhere…
The matsuri itself was a lot of fun. We first sat with a bunch of his townsfolk who were sitting on blue tarps. They offered us food like miso soup, and beverages of choice. Everyone was dressed up for the occasion, with men wearing dark blue coats, and white bottoms. (Some of them made it into a no-pants party. Awkward?) The high school girls were in all-white attire with a pink scarf, while the dudes For most of the matsuri, we followed G. and his group who were busy carrying a mikoshi. (Mikoshi)…. A sumptuous dinner capped off the festivities. We sat around low tables, and feasted over sushi. Mmm.
That night, I think we crammed six people into G’s little living room. I had one of those “Whoa, I’m in Japan!” moments as we squished several futons into place.
The next morning, we were supposed to start heading back home after banana pancakes. But we ended up getting lunch at a nearby restaurant. As we were homeward-bound, we all decided to join Heather-sensei and Grant for mid-afternoon drinks in Nihonmatsu. This brilliant idea led to two-hour karaoke, which then extended to three hours. Yet another hilarious experience I could not fathom back home.