Photos from the Naked Man Festival
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Festivities in Kobe’s Chinatown during the first weekend of February celebrated Shunsetsu, and the start of the year of the Rabbit. Beginning February 3rd with the new moon (to end January 22nd, 2012), Rabbit years are said to be for catching one’s breath after the dynamism of the Tiger. This year’s Rabbit is associated with the element metal, so the fluffy bunny may have a bit of a sharp edge (perhaps dulled a little by the fact that it’s yin metal, not yang this year)! Nankin-machi was thronged with visitors all weekend long, and on display were performances of dance, acrobatics, tai chi, as well as the famous lion and dragon dances.
Finally the holidays are here! Classes are drawing to a close, you have more free time than you can wave a stick at and the humidity has finally reached a level where you begin to wonder if jumping into the school pool would actually make any difference. It also means it’s summer festival season, so…
Mark your calendar and fill it up with these incredible opportunities to travel Hyogo and its neighboring prefectures. July 14, Nachi-no-Hi Matsuri in Wakayama A festival where 12 enormous fire torches are lit at the base of Nachi Waterfall. The torches welcome the god Kumano back to the Grand Shrine located there. Held…
So you want to see a summer festival this year? Chances are that whatever town you find yourself living in will have a perfectly lovely matsuri or three all prepared. However, if you want to venture elsewhere in our fine prefecture here’s a few you may have heard of. Dekansho Matsuri…
Showcasing the most stimulating independent short films from across the world, Future Shorts is the biggest international short film festival of its kind. Founded in London in 2003 the festival is now celebrated around the globe with over 1700 screenings, across 6 continents in more than 350 cities in 90 different countries – that’s one…
A car isn’t just an engine, some doors, and a windshield; that’s what a car needs. Not what a car is. What a car really is, is freedom, as a wise pirate once pointed out. In our lives and time, it’s the freedom to calculate the cost of gas and tolls against the fares levied by public transportation, the freedom to get lost in the winding nonsensical backroads; it’s the freedom to go where and when we choose, not bound by the bus route or train schedule. Such freedom is important to many a member of the JET community.