Japanory

Flowing Noodles and Taiko

Saturday 2^nd June 2007

My calendar entry for this day just says "BBQ - take food and drink". Luckily my photos reminded me more about the event.

It was held on a sunny day, held and attended by most of the families at Tim's workplace. The kids had free run of the playground, the adults had free run at the icy lager and sausages. There are a few children of Rhiannon's age so she had a fabulous time. And they are at an age where they all wear pink!

Something that I've noticed here - whenever a photo is taken of a Japanese person, the photographee holds two fingers up in a V sign - the peace version, not the other one so prevalent in the UK… It hasn't taken long for Rhiannon and the other children to pick up on this pose! Note the famous drink - Pocari Sweat! Great name, harmless taste and not too many chemicals to set Rhiannon off on one of her post additive hyper sessions.

Games had been set up for the children to play. One of which was a Japanese special called "Nagashi Somen" or "Flowing Somen". Somen are a type of noodle served cold during these hot summer months. The flowing part comes from the fun part… a thick bamboo tube is set up on a slight slant and iced water is poured down it - along with the noodles. The game is to catch the noodles with chopsticks before they fall into the drain. This isn't just a children's game, by the way, some restaurants do this and recently a new Nagashi Somen record distance was set with the tube running for 2,500 metres!

Then we were treated to an amazing Taiko performance. Drums touch a very deep part of my soul and, although I don't have the co-ordination to drum myself, I more than appreciate the beat. Drum performances of any kind always set the hairs on the back of my neck up. Sometimes they move me to tears. Weird, I know! Taiko isn't just drumming - it's an athletic performance art with stylised movements and poses. Mesmerising!

“So Many Animals”

1^st June 2007

No, this is not a post about Japanese wildlife (I'll do one of those another day!). This is the title of a song the Reception children presented at their first performance assembly. It turns out that each class (or entire year for the little ones in Reception) hold their own assembly once or twice a year.

We had to decorate a white t-shirt with some animal pictures which provided a weekend of wonderfully messy entertainment for Rhiannon (and a near nervous breakdown for Tim who is a little obsessive about cleanliness, tidiness and getting things "right".)

Not having attending one of these events before, I was intrigued to see how it was run. And I was incredibly impressed at how well the children behaved - both those in the audience and those "on stage". Mums and Dads were seated at the back of the hall, armed with various video cameras and normal cameras. Teachers lined the sides and their students were led in quietly and sat down without fuss.

After a short introduction by the head teacher, the children sung this song. I won't inflict the actual video on you, and I can't find a decent copy of the original on YouTube, but it was originally sung by Hi-5 if you are inclined to look for yourself. I can't get the darn thing out of my head now I've refreshed my memory of it, so beware!

Some kids are natural and outgoing performers. Rhiannon is not. She did pretty well though. She didn't take her eyes off the teachers prompting the movements to do, and I could see she was not entirely happy about being in front of so many people.

After the performance, the rest of the kids were led back to their class and the attending parents were allowed to grab a quick hug and a series of photos. Unfortunately, my camera wasn't really up to speed so the photos didn't come out well enough to display.

I found it strangely proud and moving to see my little girl performing, even though she obviously found it difficult. But it wasn't a tear-jerker. More an ear-jerker...