Third post : Fire and Halloween!

There are a lot of festivals in Japan in general, and in Kyoto in particular. There are three large festivals held every year that are quite famous, only one of which happens while I am here. The Jidai matsuri was in mid-October--- but I didn't go. Unfortunately, I had a test in class at the same time, and I did consider skipping, but in the end I decided not to. I wish I could have gone, though...

However, there was another festival that day, at night. The Kurama fire festival is actually just outside of Kyoto, and it seemed like a fool-proof awesome time- fire + festival + Friday night, right? Instead, there were a looooot of people trying to go there, a lot of people once we got there, and somehow, it seemed like even more people when we wanted to leave. Although, the fire we did see was pretty awesome.

Hallowe'en in Japan is very different from back home. There are some of the same decorations- chee

sy ghosts, witches and black, but none of the horror that is present back home. Maybe I just wasn't lo

oking hard enough, but I didn't see any horror movie specials, haunted houses or anything truly creepy out. Of course, there is also no trick-or-treating traditions either, which is sad if only because that means no chea

p candy to buy November 1st... (Thankfully my mom mailed me some anyways!)

The international student club/society/buddies hosted a Hallowe'en party at school for all of the exchange students and Japanese buddies. It was a lot of fun, and I'm assuming it is a success based on the number of people who came out and the variety of awesome costumes. I didn't try terribly hard on mine, but that's okay because I only spent 300 yen :D So it is to be expected.

Then, on Saturday, one of the other exchange students at my dorm organized another party in our lounge, where I learned another version of sociables- the Danish version (see above picture :D ). Since Halloween was on a Sunday, I opted not to go out that night, for which I am grateful now. I think two parties in one weekend is sufficient.

Kawaramachi, the downtown area of Kyoto