Monday, February 20, 2006

Kon-Nichiwa!

Melbourne and Osaka are sister cities (why does one sister speaks english and the other speaks japanese?). Every year Melbourne city hosts a little event to reaffirm our ties to the sister city of Osaka by means of a little japanese festival so they can promote tourism in Japan and have a taste of japanese life styles.

There are japanese drum performers by the students in a particular japanese drum school here. They are actually very spectacular, love the beatings of the drums like thunders!

There's best dressed japanese birds in their traditional kimono I think or maybe its called something else I don't know, I could be wrong. Anyway the winner is the one with the peace sign, 3rd from the right.

Some japanese dance which I can't remember what its called now but it involves dancing in a circle and waving your arms in the movements of working in the fields and other domestic lives back in Japan. Everyone is encouraged to join in but I was too busy with the camera so I was excused!

Know how to do origami! These volunteers spent all afternoon teaching and showing anyone who wants to learn how to make beautiful paper animals and stuffs. Gotta love the volunteers!

Ahh..love this, the Japanese Tea Ceremony. The japanese are very finicky about drinking their teas, what utensils to use, how to boil the water, how to clean the bowls and how to serve it! Aiyah, just give me one teh-o-peng saja lah and I'll gobble it down in 2 seconds!

Japanese caligraphy, I don't know what he's written but it looks like a piece of artwork you can put on the wall. Maybe someone might just buy it and do just that.

This japanese lady plays her instrument well, coupled with her singing in some japanese traditional song. I bet most of the audiences don't know what she was singing about so even if she screws up, its ok coz no one knows!

Aww...ain't that the cutest brother and sisters you ever seen! That's the fruits of good relations between Osaka and Melbourne..hehe.

Japanese honey cakes, they look good but I didn't get to sample any because the line was like a mile long! Next time maybe.

Japanese chess, looks like chinese chess too. Like the one you see in martial art movies just before they're about to draw their swords and fight to the death!

Speaking of martial arts, some demonstrations of Kendo, the japanese art of swordmanship. This is what you need to learn if you want to be a samurai, a ninja or a jedi.

These two are showing you what you can do when you learn Kendo, with a sword you have an advantage over someone who's only got a stick. But a long stick he has so the odds may be stacked against him!


Check it out, real samurai warriors complete with their katana swards too! I sked liao! Sumimasen! Sayonara!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wuching, can i be your 'gan er zhi' a.k.a. godson in Melbourne? u always know so many nice places/events to go to.

btw, tat japanese 'chess' thing, i think it's called Go. My cousin in scotland's crazy bout it so he sent me an anime about it (Hikaru no Go). Quite interesting, but i understand nuts hehe.
heh i haf 2 katanas at home also ler.. :D

p/s i picked up kingkong for u yesterday. cya

5xmom.com said...

Oi, apasal itu gambar last-last purple one looks like cha boh wan?

Anonymous said...

How come Samurai warriors keep a "soul patch"? ... hehe.

Wuching said...

alex: godson? can! but u don't need to be to know where to go in melb, just log on to www.thatsmelbourne.com.au!
the go pieces look like black & white m&m..i feel like eating them, i have a katana & a shorter one(i forgot what they call it) but they r replicas..i would like a real one thot!
& thank u for the dvd, i'll pay u when u come back! :)

5xmom: yaloh..itu orang jipun memang macam cha boh wan like manga manga/anime cartoon lah!

loong: what's a "soul patch"? btw..these r actually japanese samurai rock star performers touring australia! u can find out more at www.orochijyo.cjb.net!

Anonymous said...

Tell me when you take all these pictures don't you feel shy at all ? Just want to learn from you! :)

Wuching said...

che-cheh: when i first started, i did feel a bit weird & shy about taking them but after doing it for a while u get used to it! bear in mind i carry my camera everwhere i go so its even more weirder carrying it off my shoulder! :p

Francis Ho said...

'kon-nichiwa' from Kuching ...

Jeremy C said...

wow, melb's gone jap! looks like you had a very "i-chi-ban" weekend :)

Wuching said...

fh20: kon-nichiwa! please come again!

jeremy: arigato jeremy san!

Pandabonium said...

Great post!

I visited Melbourne (from Hawaii) in 1991 and loved it. Such interesting architecture in that city. My wife, from Japan, taught Japanese in an exchange program in Ballarat in 1996.

Anyway, the game is Go as someone said, the dance is called Bon dance or Obon, the light cotton kimono are called "yukatta", and the stringed instrument is the "samisen". I am surprised to see all that happening there.

We live in Kashima City Japan for now. Please visit my blog pacific-islander.blogspot.com
I have a post about the local Bon dance in my August archive.

Cheers!


Thanks for the cool post.

Wuching said...

pandabonium: thankz for the clarifications, how is it like living in japan? do ppl really do things very nicky picky like what they show in movies?

Alex Allied said...

last pic look like malays -.-'''

where's that show at ar? din recommend me go oso.....

Anonymous said...

Hey Wuching, the "soul patch" is the patch of hair grown right under the lip. Hehe ...

Wuching said...

alex allied: u can check out their shows at www.orochijyo.cjb.net i haven't been to their show so how to recommend u?

loong: oh is that what u call it, over here i think ppl call it "pussy tickler" or something liddat!