Toukasan – one of the big festivals in Hiroshima with the typical stalls with street food and games, crowds of people and fun performances. And then there’s me, trying to practise my pose before going on stage to show off my yukata in a fashion show. But let’s start from the beginning, shall we?
It’s 2:45 pm and I just got to the meeting point. Having no idea what’s going on, I started to regret going by myself, but what’s done is done, right? Maybe if I wait long enough, I’ll see some familiar faces and I’ll just follow them… but no, so in the next 5 minutes, I tried to build up my courage to go to ask about it. Yes, I did dance in front of hundreds of people last week, but asking for help? Uh-uh. But I did it in the end and thanks to that I arrived early enough to choose the yukata I was about to wear. I was so relieved because, as the show took place also the day before, I saw a picture of a person wearing a Carp team yukata (Carps – Hiroshima’s baseball team) and while it’s fun and all, I’d feel like a walking ad. I should’ve knocked on wood.
The only thing with my yukata is that.. for some reason, it wasn’t there? I was a bit worried ,but everyone seemed to be okay, so I just waited, about maybe 30 mins. It felt a bit better when one of the other exchange students’ yukata wasn’t there either, so we waited together. That’s when I mentioned the thing with the carp yukata, expressing my relief. Finally, the yukata arrived and it was the time to get dressed! I was so excited! Until I was asked “Would you mind wearing the carp yukata? The person who’s supposed to wear it is too short so the name is not visible”. Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no.. did I just jinx it?? Fortunately, my face is expressive enough and the disappointment was pouring from my face, flooding everything around. So they asked the student that I’d been talking to before and she agreed! (If you’re reading this, know that I shall love you forever ♥)
Lesson learnt: Don’t get excited too early!! It might not turn out the way you planned.
Though I already knew this…
Anyway, they put the yukata on and looked at me dissatisfiedly. Was something wrong? Well, yeah, my body for Japanese standard. But worry not, there’s nothing that a few towels can’t fix. As they said, “a cylinder is better”. I don’t know if it’s also true in the summer heat and it definitely put some weight on me, in every sense of the word. But this is a yukata fashion show, let’s follow the Japanese way of doing things, they must know better. This is something I would repeat to myself over and over. When they tried to squeeze out the air out of me when tying the obi belt (which I didn’t fully commit to, as I really wanted to breathe – so I pushed out my belly during the process, just like in Kyoto), when they were doing my hair and I didn’t get any pearls or the little ornament that hangs from the hair, as I hoped to, or when they didn’t even did my eyeliner, which is almost a part of my identity by now, but instead I got mascara and not the best eyeshadow.. and I realise this is terrible, but I do think I could do the makeup better myself. But, let’s let the Japanese do their thing, they must know better.
And even though I was a little bit disappointed at first, everyone else seemed to like it, so I guess they did do their thing well. But by any means am I saying it looked bad, no, it was still pretty cool, it was a yukata with a nice hairstyle after all. But, even though I was one of the first people to get there, I was the last one to leave the changing room. This meant that I had barely any time to even get to a bathroom before the explanation of the movement and posing started. That’s when it was decided that some people, including Yours Truly, would go in pairs with the boys. Yet, my pair was nowhere to be found during the first explanation (we had two).
This meant that right before the show, I had to make sure he knew what we were doing, going over the steps over and over again. But you know what? It was worth it! There were two shows, and though during the first one I had no idea what I was doing or whether the timing was okay and I felt like in a dream, trying not to forget to bow and to show my sleeves in an elegant way, we nailed it! (except for maybe walking the stairs when he was supposed to help me because yukatas are not movement-friendly, but as we didn’t have a chance to practise it, it wasn’t the smoothest) And the second show was absolutely perfect! We knew what we were doing and we looked good doing it! I don’t know why, but I’ve been really enjoying the crowd’s attention, the cheering of friends and strangers, the fascinated children and the happy tourists, and I couldn’t help but smile, proudly walking the runway with my friends.
I can’t believe that in two months, I’ll have to leave this life full of fun events and cool opportunities behind. But fear not, for I shall return! (I hope)
