Attended Natsu Matsuri (夏祭り) 2012 yesterday evening with Trisha. Natsu Matsuri basically means "summer festival" in Japanese and well, needless to say, it's a Japanese summer festival. It is held annually at the Singapore Japanese School and this year, it was at the Changi campus! Didn't know that there was a school solely for Japanese students in Singapore? Well now you know. They have three campuses actually (go research about it if it interests you). I didn't know about it till last year sometime in December, when Joanne told me about her attending the festival and ever since then, I had made it a point to attend this year's, regardless the circumstances. I mean, after reading all that manga I just had to experience it firsthand by myself!! Plus, attending a summer festival in Japan is in my bucket list. So... Why not? Even though I had classes till like 7pm, leaving me with only half the duration of the festival left, I was glad I went for it because it was such an eye-opener!!
I thought it was going to take a while to find the entrance of the school since I was kinda unfamiliar with the place and all, but there were couples and families in their yukatas walking towards the same direction so I simply followed LOL. And I eventually wounded up at the entrance where I met Trisha.
Almost everyone was donned in a yukata!! A yukata is a tradional Japanese garment, a more casual form of kimono worn during summer festivals and is meant for males and females alike. There was this yukata rental service going at about $5 which was already closed by the time I have reached the campus because they have already rented all of them out. I was intending to try one because it looks so pretty!! No seriously. IT'S SO PRETTY. I think the majority bought their own yukatas though. There were quite a number of Japanese families there.
There was the concert (which I missed out on due to my tardy arrival), games, food, stores selling various Japanese oriented acessories, hair-styling service and this dance that the crowd was hyped up over. We had out fair share of games though not much because they were running low on their coupons. Same goes for their food. Even so, you could really feel the festive mood. Makes you feel like you should be dancing with the crowd and going "oi!" too.
Oh and I think their games are interesting and um, kinda smart? As compared to the typical shooting tins with pingpong balls etc, they tend to in-cooperate the fragility of paper into their games. Like yo-yo tsuri (water balloons) which you basically try to hook with a twisted rope of paper. They used to had fish catching with paper nets too but I guess they removed it.
Almost everyone was donned in a yukata!! A yukata is a tradional Japanese garment, a more casual form of kimono worn during summer festivals and is meant for males and females alike. There was this yukata rental service going at about $5 which was already closed by the time I have reached the campus because they have already rented all of them out. I was intending to try one because it looks so pretty!! No seriously. IT'S SO PRETTY. I think the majority bought their own yukatas though. There were quite a number of Japanese families there.
There was the concert (which I missed out on due to my tardy arrival), games, food, stores selling various Japanese oriented acessories, hair-styling service and this dance that the crowd was hyped up over. We had out fair share of games though not much because they were running low on their coupons. Same goes for their food. Even so, you could really feel the festive mood. Makes you feel like you should be dancing with the crowd and going "oi!" too.
Oh and I think their games are interesting and um, kinda smart? As compared to the typical shooting tins with pingpong balls etc, they tend to in-cooperate the fragility of paper into their games. Like yo-yo tsuri (water balloons) which you basically try to hook with a twisted rope of paper. They used to had fish catching with paper nets too but I guess they removed it.
Underexposure? ._.
I guess you could say the festival was really well-received. I was expecting a lot to turn up and well, it didn't fail my expectations. I wish I had taken nicer photos though, because this set had a lot of blurred/unfocused shots. And they just don't do the festival any justice arghhh.
We left when everything ended around 9PM+. We went around doing shit and finally got home at around midnight, the first minute of 26th August which is Trisha's birthday. Happy birthday Trisha!!
That's more or less how the day ended. I enjoyed myself at the festival hahaha. With my just-arrived tied peplum dress from NastyGal!! It's simple but I love the details :) Okay bimbo moment excuse me.
So to conclude, the festival was really a great experience of another culture. I like attending things like these. Another one would be the Thailand's water festival somewhere in April (near my birthday hahah) which I have always wanted to experience but have had no chance to. Maybe I'll go to Thailand in April sometime soon :) Oh and of course Fourth of July!!
I guess you could say I'm a little biased towards Japan though LOL. Well anyway, it's going to be Emaths p2 and Physics p2 tomorrow. So this is the end of my happy festive mood post.
We left when everything ended around 9PM+. We went around doing shit and finally got home at around midnight, the first minute of 26th August which is Trisha's birthday. Happy birthday Trisha!!
That's more or less how the day ended. I enjoyed myself at the festival hahaha. With my just-arrived tied peplum dress from NastyGal!! It's simple but I love the details :) Okay bimbo moment excuse me.
So to conclude, the festival was really a great experience of another culture. I like attending things like these. Another one would be the Thailand's water festival somewhere in April (near my birthday hahah) which I have always wanted to experience but have had no chance to. Maybe I'll go to Thailand in April sometime soon :) Oh and of course Fourth of July!!
I guess you could say I'm a little biased towards Japan though LOL. Well anyway, it's going to be Emaths p2 and Physics p2 tomorrow. So this is the end of my happy festive mood post.
Sunday, August 26, 2012 @ 11:11 PM