Hockey and Hiroshima for Golden Week

I’m back at work now and my holiday has officially ended. I had a pretty fun one week holiday- as Japan gets a week off work due to a string of holidays grouped together, known as Golden Week. Asuka was in Taiwan visiting her friend, so I spent the week in Hiroshima with Rich and playing hockey.(Picture below: My friend Hiki and I chatting after at the lodge.)

I started my holidays with a hockey tournament in Hyogo-Ken. The tournament was fun and our team came in third place. We spend most of last Saturday driving to the hockey rink and spent the night practicing and then staying at a cabin lodge. The cabin was really nice and I had fun drinking and chatting with my hockey friends.(Picture below: Members from the girl team)

The Tournament started on Sunday and we spent the whole day there from 8am till 7pm. We played a total of 7 games and we lost in the semi finals to a really strong Osaka team. They were by far the best team there and it was a blast to watch them play, even though they beat us.

It was my first time playing organized hockey in Japan and it was funny noticing some of the differences in terminology and culture that is employed here. For instance, at the start of the game you bow. When you finish a game you also bow to the referees and the visitor’s bench. They also say “good keep” when a goalie makes a save and “nice shoot” when someone makes a good shot. Overall, I had a fun time and to top it off, at the end of the tournament there is a raffle and our team won a hockey bag full of equipment. So I ended up getting a free hockey t-shirt.(Picture below: I'm playing rock, Paper, Scissors and trying to win a free hockey jersey, came in third )

I got back to town Sunday night and on Monday I met up with Rich and his cousin Curtis who are traveling around Japan for 3 weeks. Rich has cousins that are living in Hiroshima, so I pretty much stayed over in the city the whole week, only coming home to shower.

Since it was Golden Week, there were a lot of activities happening around in Hiroshima. There was the 30^th Annual Hiroshima Flower Festival which consists of a parade and lots of talent shows. There were dance performances from many school groups as well as cultural groups- a wide range from traditional Japanese dance to hip-hop dancing. We spent a good part of the week watching the different performances.(Picture below: Female pop group)

There were also a lot of Japanese celebrities that had performances, especially many well known comedians and a few pop groups. Curtis spent at least 10 hours a day watching all the different dance performances and I just remember hearing him say that he loves Japan every 5 mins. It was a lively place and over 150,000 people went to the flower festival.

The Hiroshima Peace Park was where a lot of the performances took place and at night there was a candle memorial and most of the peace park became filled with candles. It’s quite surreal and really nice to see everything lit up. By the river beside the peace Park, they had an orchestra and various band groups singing.

On Friday we went to a professional Japanese baseball game. The Hiroshima Carp played the Chunichi Dragons and Rich, Curtis and their cousin and I spent most of the day watching the Carp beat the Dragons 9-5. A Japanese baseball game is a lot of fun, as there is singing, band music playing and various dances and chants throughout. There is always a section of the opposing teams fans and they always cheer really loud and have supporters at every game. We had a couple of beers at the game and it was fun, even though it was hot in the high 20’s. Sitting there we got baked and I got a tad sunburnt.(Picture below: Curtis and their cousin Brandon)

Well, that was pretty much how I spent my Golden week, it was fun seeing Rich and hanging around in Hiroshima city. Festivals happen so often in Japan, but they are always a fun time as there is a lot to see and do. They always have great food, which really helps too. The past week has been really hot, as the temperature has really risen. It’ started to get a tad muggy and humid over here and the rainy season begins soon, which means it will rain everyday- shaking my former belief that it never rains here.

The rest of May should go pretty fast as I’ll be busy with elementary school and a conference in Kobe. After that, it’s just another month until I head home for two weeks in July. I’m really looking forward to stepping back on Canadian soil for a bit and seeing my family and friends.

Japanese Factoid # 22: As mentioned Japanese baseball games are fun because they are so into the games and everyone is cheering and singing for all 9 innings. The coolest thing they do here is during the 7^th inning. Instead of a stretch, everyone has massive balloons that they blow up as big as they can. Then everyone at the same time releases the balloons and they make a loud whistling noise. When a whole ballpark does it, it’s really quite neat to see and experience.