Awa Odori 2.0

On Tuesday 14th August my Dad had finally arrived in Tokushima and we were all set to dance in the famous local Awa Odori Festival.  Not to be sniffed at, Awa Odori is THE larges dance festival in Japan and the second largest in the world after Rio's Carnivale.  For 3 magical days, the streets of Tokushima City light up as more than a million visitors descend to partake in the revelry.  Between the hours of 5-9pm, dance troupes of all ages, nationalities and abilities gather to dance through 'street stages' set up on various city roads, while the ticket-buying audiences pack the stands to cheer and take pictures.

Last year, as a new JET, it was compulsory for me to dance in Awa Odori, having been signed up and had the fee paid for by my Board of Education (this is a bit of a Tokushima Orientation initiative each year actually).  The crazy whirlwind of the experience last year made me pretty certain that I wouldn't be dancing this year, preferring instead to sit back and watch from the bleachers.  And then I found out Dad would be here at the time and another of my friend's parents would be dancing in Awa Odori too, so I thought, what the hell, and signed us both up to dance.

I left English Camp a little ahead of schedule and rushed home to pick up Dad and all of our gear (change of clothes, sling purse, tabi shoe/socks and tickets etc).  We headed to the train station and dozed through the hour-long journey to the city.  A quick cigarette break and convenience store stop later and we found ourselves at the Awa Kanko Hotel at 3.30pm collecting our yukatas (summer kimonos).  Off Dad went to the Men's Changing Room, while I went to get bound up in the intricate ties and corsetry of my outfit in the Women's Section.  By 4.15pm we were both dressed and ready to roll, so we posed for a few pictures and waited for the party to start at 4.45pm.

Standing around tables listening to speeches wasn't exactly my idea of fun, but with 20 minutes of talking out of the way, the real party (and drinking) began!  Bottles of beer were cracked and the sounds of "kampai" (the Japanese version of "cheers") echoed around the room.  We also had time to have a bite to eat and practise our dancing skills - with moves much easier than they look.

The booze had been drained by 5.45pm and the girls were called to the foyer area to don their geta (little wooden thong-type clogs) and hats.  I had a rough time getting my geta on and an even harder time trying to balance correctly without falling over, but they didn't hurt as much as I was expecting them to.  At 6pm our troupe, Arasowa-ren (meaning No Fighting) assembled on the street outside the hotel and so began the procession to the first stage.

There was lots of waiting around at the stage before our dancing commenced and in this short time Dad managed to make friends with just about every single JET from Tokushima as well as the other parents dancing on the night.  I was initially a little worried about leaving him at the back with the others (as those of us in 'the girl outfit' had to dance together in three rows at the front) but he seemed fine when we went back to check up on them.  I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be able to dance alongside my Dad, but dancing alongside my friends while my Dad got to enjoy the experience too was still pretty cool.

We wandered straight from this first stage - which actually took about 9 minutes to dance through - to the first rest area, where the troupe organisers provided us with beer, soft drinks, cold tea etc.  After necking our drinks we followed the giant lanterns of Arasowa-ren to the next stage and waited there for our turn to dance.  Again, it took us just less than 10 minutes to dance our way through the stage.  Though this time once done, we were free to go back to the hotel, get changed out of our uniforms and hand them back to the event staff for dry-cleaning.  Dad and I wandered back to Awa Kanko with a few of my friends and made plans to check out the remainder of the festival later that night.

Getting unchanged after Awa Odori was delightful and I've never been happier to unwrap layer upon layer of hot, sweaty garments of my body.  Taking off the wooden geta and peeling of my tabi in favour of a pair of good old Aussie thongs was amazing too.  I met Dad downstairs and when Natasha and her parents were ready to leave too we made our way out to the street and in search of some festival food, beers and eventually Ingrid's Bar.  Unfortunately, I didn't take too many pictures at Awa Odori this year - I didn't want to have to lug my camera around and plus, I was far too busy having fun introducing Dad to everyone to spend my time behind the lens...

So will I dance in Awa Odori next year? It's hard to say.  I don't know if I'll be in Tokushima at this exact time next year or how 2013 could possibly top the fun I had at this year's event.  Then again, there's a saying that goes: if those who dance are fools and those who watch are fools, then both are fools and you might as well dance...