Last Sunday, I was invited to a Winter Festival in Koga. This is a rather low key event just honoring all the international residents of our little city. There were booths there from the most represented foreigners such as China, Korea, Brazil, Peru, and the Philippines. Each booth had fun foods and juices or coffees from their respective countries. Many people were dressed in traditional garb. In addition to the booths there were people there from many different places; I saw Kenya (my friend James), Australia (my friend Thomas), Indonesia, Mongolia, Thailand, and Russia.
Through the course of the afternoon, there was a Japanese speech contest in which foreigners can participate. Each person must prepare a three minute speech on their home country and experience in moving to Japan. It is so interesting to me to listen to these speeches because I can understand a lot of what is said and I can also tell how different the accent is! After this there were some cultural performances such as songs and dances from each of the different countries. I was especially excited about the performance from the Philippines because they did Tinikling!! I was sad because I was missing the annual Filipino-American holiday party at home, and being able to watch some Tinikling helped a lot!!
I was able to talk to so many nice people and I even got some information about a new Japanese language course I can start taking after the new year! I am glad James told me about this festival, because it would have been quite a shame to miss it!
2 comments:
Don't worry, as our party was hastily put together and had no folk dancing. I hope we come back with a vengeance next year; I really miss the folk dances, as they make me feel more connected to filipino culture.
It is kind of cool that all over the world people enjoy other cultures celebrations and unique aspects. This is what helps to make the world a more connected and interesting place.
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