Happy Thanksgiving! And its a holiday in Japan, too. It’s Sports Day. As is often the case with national holidays some things are open, some are not and sometimes there are special events. Wilf had us all lined up to go to a festival in the district of Jiyugoaka. We’ve been to this area before – had a nice lunch on a tree lined street, explored the area around the train station,, indulged in some great people watching. The area has a bit of a European look to it and is not full of high rise buildings. It looks like an area where prosperous senior management might live, where the ladies who lunch come to eat and browse the shops.
Of course our visit required another multi-transfer 45 minute ride across the city, but I was happy to see this poster at the transfer point for the last leg of the journey.
It is encouraging to find evidence of the event in advance! This is the Jiyugoaka Megami Festival, the 50th edition. Megami means goddess, and refers to the winged statue that stands in the square in front of the train station. I’m not sure what she is the goddess of – here’s a photo of her from the front side since the poster is a posterior view….
It’s a hilly neighbourhood – when we came out of the train station the train platform was above us – we went out, turned left, went down a slight incline and met the train line as a level crossing. Once over the tracks another block down the hill brought us to a street that used to be a creek bed. It has been filled – or culverted – to make a charming street with seating up the middle. The are flower shops and restaurants and all the usual clothing shops along the street. And the center of the street had been filled with tables, chairs and umbrellas. Further along – food tents! We got ourselves established and then took turns provisioning. First up = I went for beer and sparkling wine while Wilf chatted with people who were sharing our table. The Japanese are very reticent and they will share a table, knee to knee, with no conversation. But not when we’re there – either we start talking to them or their curiosity is too much and they talk to us. By the time I returned with drinks Wilf was chatting up several people. He went off for food and it was my turn to talk. Wilf found grilled chicken, rather than fried, and it hit the spot. After we had had our snack we wandered up the street.
There was a stage and a gal was singing – in English – jazzy songs. The next thing we knew she was out in the audience, selecting her victim.
She is singing and chatting while she draws a caricature of this young man, accompanied by a fellow noodling away on a guitar in a jazzy style.
I think he was just waiting for it to be over! But she kept hauling people up there, singing and chatting and drawing….
Just past her was a bug zoo, where the kids were handling the biggest beetles I’ve ever seen…
I’ve seen them in museums, but never on the hoof, as it were.
It was time to go back up the hill, over the tracks and to the stage in front of the train station for the first major performance of the afternoon.
It was hot – a lovely sunny day. We found a spot for Wilf to sit right at the front and I was standing in the shade when a Japanese lady came up to me, spoke quite insistently and then, when I clearly didn’t understand grabbed my arm and escorted me to a seat front and centre. Which was kind of her.
And who was performing?
The United States 7th Fleet jazz band!
So – sunny afternoon beside the train station, some jazz – what’s not to like?
Eventually it was time to move on in search of ice cream. That was when we found the other half of the festival!
I asked one of the volunteers if they knew where ice cream was to be had and after some discussion they suggested ‘Milkland’. And I remember that place from our last visit. All things milk, all from Hokkaido.
Needless to say it was crazy town there, but Wilf snagged a seat while I got the goods. They lean hard into the whole cow things here.
See the cow in the second story window asking ‘Milk today?’ Said cow continues to the downstairs…
Where it dominates the room!
Outside there is a cow that kids can milk…
Every so often the supervising staff member opened a port in the side of the cow to ensure there is still water for the kids to ‘milk’. I’m guessing for a lot of city kids this is as close to a cow as they’ll ever get.
We had soft service ice cream – milk flavour, of course – and an iced latte topped with fresh whipped cream. There was a cooler with probably 15 different brands of Hokkaido milk to buy and you could have flights of cheese or milk to sample a variety of products.
And as usual, Wilf was making friends,.,,,
The cow looks rather sceptical about this new relationship!
And then back across town – via another route with only one transfer at Shibuya station. Which is number two on the list of busiest Japanese train stations. I learned the hard way many years ago that the ‘ya’ in Shibuya meant valley and the Ginza subway line actually comes in above ground at this station. Which is confusing for a subway. There have been times when I thought we’d never get out of that train station. But they’ve been busy renovating the whole area and we made the connection from the train line out of the station and into the subway station without incident. A first for us!
This was a fun day at a very community based event – everyone enjoying themselves in the sunshine.
Where I'm At 