Golden Week

This week is what the Japanese call Golden Week. It's called this because it contains a series of holidays one right after the other. My handy list of Japanese Holidays tells me that April 30th is "Green Day," May 3rd is Constitution Day, May 4th is "National Holiday," and May 5th is Children's Day. I have no idea what Green Day is (other than a good band), I guess Constitution Day is something like July 4th for us, I'm thinking May 4th is just off because it falls so neatly between two other holidays. That, or it's another Independence Day type holiday? Children's Day is also called Boy's Day, and all I know about it so far is that people hang up wind socks in the shape of koi, which are supposed to represent strength in their children. They're all over, in parks, on houses, and so on, and they're pretty.
Anyway, because of all the holidays in Golden Week, most people take the whole week off. The Junior College where I work, for example, has no classes all week. My Japanese class and one of my yoga classes are also canceled. The Americans don't celebrate by taking time off, but the Navy wives do enjoy the incredible sales that go on while all the Japanese are off work. And it was in that spirit that Mel and I took a trip today to Hasami for the pottery sale there.
Because Mel is leaving soon, and because I need to not be such a baby about the roads here, I volunteered to drive this time, and Mel played navigator. She left her car on base in hopes that someone might buy it. The drive was really not bad at all, and it helped me to be reminded that driving distances here is really no different from the states other than the side of the road you're on. We didn't even have trouble finding parking upon arrival: everyone with a lot was willing to let you park as long as you paid.
The pottery sale itself was pretty amazing. They had filled a whole park with tents and filled the tents with stalls selling any type of china or pottery you could possibly desire. The prices ranged from the 50 yen baskets at the front of stalls to tens of thousands of yen for some of the more expensive pieces (in dollars that's 50 cents to 100's of dollars, give or take). And it was all beautiful. The first round of exploring was sensory overload there was so much. If you wanted pottery, you could find exactly what you wanted here.
I came to the sale mostly to look, but I did have a few purchases in mind for my stay here in Japan. First, I knew that I wanted to buy a tea set at some point. Second, I have interest in a sake set. I could easily have gotten fifty of each at this place, so I found myself agonizing. How on Earth could I pick one set when they do this once a year and there are sales all over the island. If I wasn't careful, I was going to end up bringing home a million tea sets before my trip was over!
So I came up with a new plan: instead of buying a set, I'd buy one piece everytime I went someplace cool. If I stick with a basic color theme and cup shape and size, the result will be a set that doesn't all have the same pattern, but is much more fun. That way I'd enjoy the buying more and I'd have more memories from the result. So today, I bought a tea cup to start my set. It's blue mostly, with a flowery pattern on it. I figure it's a good start. The hard part will be buying the tea pot, but I've got time... I also got a pretty serving bowl, since I actually kind of need one and it was a good price.
We ate lunch at the sale from the booths that were set up. One booth was selling what looked to be whole squid on a stick, but I stuck to pork and beef on a stick. Mel was more adventurous and went with tako balls (octopus in breading with vegetables or something mixed in). For dessert, we got crepes with whipped creme, chocolate and fruit inside. Quite yummy. Beyond that, there was ice cream, candy apples, corn on the cob, and snow cones, so some things are the same everywhere.
We came home around mid-afternoon, loaded down with our purchases. It had been cloudy all day, and the sky burst open conviently about the time I finished walking Dory. So I came home to do school work and got a note from Zack. He's busy, and tired, but life is good. He doesn't tell me much, but I suppose there's little to tell when you're on a ship in the middle of an ocean somewhere. So that suits me just fine.
Dinner time...