Taste handbag, fiend!

This weekend was the Kobe Festival, a big parade and a bunch of stalls which closed off the whole of Sannomiya's Flower Road (which is a very big deal). I really enjoy having "things" happening all the time - people bellowing about the latest sale or "campaign", buskers and street music, huge events and festivals like this one. Unfortunately, so do the pushy old ladies and woe betide anyone who gets between them and a good view. When all you have is an elbow, every problem starts to look like someone's ribs.


It all happened on a lazy Sunday afternoon, where somehow I managed to be surprised by what the festival was like even though I had no idea what to expect. Flower Road is gigantic, but the entire thing was closed off to foot traffic that snaked through countless food stalls and nervous policemen with megaphones telling everyone to be careful. I can understand why though - I wish I had words for how busy it was. Imagine a cup of water is a person and the ocean is the crowd - the scale and behaviour of the thing are such that you can scarcely imagine both are water. You don't walk with a crowd like that so much as get carried, but eventually we managed to pull ourselves out of the current and stop at a corner with a good view and reasonable shade. Clearly this was exactly where a group of old ladies wanted to be, so we spent the next half hour being aggressively leaned on. The one next to me would take advantage of any slight shifts on my aching feet, driving an elbow or shoulder through the gap in an attempt to get 2cm closer. These women are sometimes called "obattalion" - a mixture of the word "obasan" (auntie) and "battalion". Obattalion are older women who take advantage of their age and perceived frailty to bulldoze their way through everybody and generally act like selfish arseholes without fear of reprisal. Seeing an opening further ahead, the armada crashed their way through enemy lines, scattering people with well placed shoulders and handbags and from that point on they were no longer my problem. It was like taking my first breath.

The parade was bizarre, really - it started off with a Disney float, then a bunch of yacht clubs, the navy band and the Kobe samba team. The latter was probably the most interesting - people of all ages (and I mean, 5 to 750) dressed up in extremely frilly sleeves and pant legs, dancing around and banging drums to a very enthusiastic song with the word "Kobe" instead of "samba". Then the city bus fleet came through and I decided I'd much rather be drinking coffee than jostling for position to watch a "parade" of buses. In some ways I wish I had stayed - apparently Darth Vader and the rest of the cast of Star Wars showed up afterwards. Noone seems sure why. It was a nice idea for an event, but the impenetrable crowds ended up being a bit much.

The best bit about having "things" happening though, is that if you're bored with one thing, you can move on to something else. Instead, we sat in the square at Sannomiya and chatted, vaguely listening to a lineup of bands that took turns to play a couple of songs each and then vanish. We also went in to one of the UFO catcher places, intending only to win a tub of icecream or two to enjoy in the glorious sunshine. Somehow I managed to win a couple of big sports bags for Lis and Kym instead (see Flickr), much to everyone's amusement. "Ganbare, gaikokujin" (go for it, Mr Foreigner), one of the schoolgirls nearby whispered on my final attempt. I think she was more excited than anyone when I won it.

Friday night, Lisa met me out at a Belgian beer place just next to the station, where we cracked peanuts and drank cherry beer. This is far nicer than it sounds. "I like this," Lisa said, sipping her second. "let's do it more often". Our virtuous plans to cook at home long forgotten, we headed over to the okonomiyaki restaurant I took mum and dad to on their first night here and ordered up. Cheese is always a good idea, I've decided. I have a feeling we'll be back there in August at the very least.

Saturday we spent a-wandering the shops (just for a change) and broke off to our respective poisons. Lis headed over to the fashion bit to look for clothes for a hip-hop class she's going to be teaching and I went to perve on 3D TVs and secondhand games. As if to atone for the geekiness, we had a bit of a poke around a potential gym and decided it was a done deal - provided we joined up at the one closer to our house. That didn't work out so well - it turns out that even if one gym is the same brand as another, it can be more than 3 times the price. I'm pretty sure I could get a taxi to and from the cheap but far away one and still be ahead. Expect leanness and considerable weight loss in the months to come (and hopefully not just for my wallet).