We`re imperceptibly becoming adept at life in Japan. We get to school no problem, we know where to buy the food we want to eat, we know where to exercise and who to ask for help. I`m getting used to feeling like a boy band as I walk anywhere near the vicinity of school with hundreds of teenage girls screaming my name followed by "Kawai!!!!!!! Kirei!!!!!", which mean cute and pretty respectively. Absurd? Yes. Flattering? Yes. Funny? Very. But it makes holding a class`s attention REALLY easy. Sure beats spit balls.
Amidst all this adaption some wonderful fellow JETs helped us arrange to get ourselves to Noboribetsu, a coastal town not far from here famous for it`s onsens (bath houses) and Hell Valley. Transportation is ridiculously expensive here, but carpooling is a much cheaper option. So we hopped in with some girls on their way down to soak up the sulfur fumes of Hell Valley and take in Hell Festival.
Our first stop in Noboribetsu was this beautiful, stinking, boiling hot lake. The sulfur stench is strong, but worth it. It was the first time Brian or I had ever seen such geothermic magic.
A bit of dillying and dallying later we found ourselves in a posse of fellow JETs exploring the stinking, steaming wonderland of Hell Valley. Strange moonscapes of burning water and a bubbling little geyser drew us in despite the stink. If I were to make a 1950s movie about aliens in Mars I would film it in Hell Valley. It reminds me of Christmas on Mars actually. Wayne Coyne could`ve popped right out of that geyser.
We opted out of trying the bath houses which Noboribetsu is so famous for because it was so hot. Instead we headed towards the festival to eat drink and make merry with the demons in town. Most kids were terrified of these demons, but this little guy loves em.
After dark the revelry got started. First came the demon parade.
Then a spell of taiko Japanese drumming (if this sounds boring to you, or even if it sounds good, it`s way better than you`re imagining) came before a parade of costumed people doing a devil dance in the street. It wasn`t quite a parade because the line of people was continuous and they went around in multiple laps.Finally Satan himself showed up to tell us all we are foolish humans and he`s taking us to Hell. These were his minions.
And the King of Evil Himself!
Why is there a Hell festival you ask? Every town in Japan (Korea too for that matter) has a cute little mascot and because of Hell Valley, Noboribetsu`s mascots are a red and blue oni (demon). These are your basic humanoids with spiky clubs, dreadlocks and horns, but the big statue of one near the entrance to the town enigmatically has soft serve ice cream cones for horns. Hell Festival is the town`s summer celebration, and it`s lots of fun.This week is promising to be quite slow because of the big standardized tests that are going on. That means days with no classes and lots of desk time. But this weekend we`ve got a van load of Sapporo-ites road tripping to Lake Akan for camping and marimo viewing (cute algae, easier to show you than explain). So we`ll spend our days acclimatizing and day-dreaming of algae balls til then.
