learning traditional Japanese dance

learning traditional Japanese dance - 21
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I was at a JET party recently and I got cornered by my friend and fellow ALT, Fiona, and she asked, "Jason, when are you going to post those pics from this summer's language course we did together?"
I've been so behind with pics, but hopefully this batch will apease Fiona - she's like the Hulk - you don't want to make her angry! - and the other ALTs who studied Japanese with me this past summer in Matsue.

A few times they tried to teach us a little about Japanese culture, so this day they made everyone get dressed up in yukata and dance with fans for an hour or so. I know this sounds cynical and harsh, but I find these "culture" moments an incredible waste of time. None of us are brand new ALTs - all of us in attendance had lived in Japan at least one full year at this point (two full years in my case) so we'd all had plenty of opportunites to seek out and experience Japanese culture. This one in particular had no connection to learning the language - at least the two other culture activities were about kanji and using Japanese.

Anyway- i happily snapped plenty of pics for all the ALTs, and they did all look cool in their yukata. I look particularly bad in this type of garment, especially when they don't have one even approaching my size, so I declined getting dressed up - it was more fun to watch anyways.

So ok, click on this pic for plenty more of "foreigners in Japanese clothes."

-Jason
grumpy old man?