This is it, the final day in Japan. I’m sad to be leaving, but I’m also excited to be coming back to Canada. It actually hit me harder when I moved out of my apartment; I miss living living there, it was a great apartment and great neighborhood.

The month started out with my trip to Sapporo, which was a lot of fun, if maybe a little long for a 1 person 1 city kind of trip. This marked the point where I gave up all pretenses of trying to maintain a healthy weight, as I jumped into full ‘screw it, I’ll diet when I get back’ mode. Seriously though, the food there is delicious, you should go and try it some time.

It was the first time I got to meet the rest of Issei’s family, his father, Kouichiro. Previously, he was living and working in Tokyo, but now that he is retired, he is back home in Osaka. He is an avid mountain climber, and he immediately invited me to go climb the nearby ‘Mt. Manaitashi’. We left early in the morning, but even at night time in July, its quite hot and humid in Osaka. The mountain trail had a fair amount of climbing to it, but it was more of a long hike than a difficult climb. It was a lot of fun, some well needed exercise, and a good chance to have a chat… when I could muster up the energy (I am not a morning person).

I also ended up going to Gion Matsuri in Kyoto, one of the 3 largest festivals in Japan. It was an incredibly hot day, standing on the side of the street with a paper fan was difficult, and I can’t image how hot and difficult it was for the people pulling the gigantic Yamaboko (a kind of float). It was hot enough that a person behind me in the crowd collapsed and had several police direct her through the crowd to get medical help. While the parade was definitely impressive, I don’t know that I would recommend this one, you might be better off just watching it on Youtube and avoid baking in the Kyoto summer heat.

We also did some fireworks outside the house in the parking space. It’s a real shame you can’t do a lot of these in Ontario, besides the regular sparklers. There weren’t any of the ones you launch into the sky, but there were a few that you place on the ground and light, and mostly ones you hold in your hand and watch flames and sparks shoot out the end. While I think we all had some fun, Charlie the cat really wasn’t a big fan of them.

Next up, I went to another one of Japan’s top 3 festivals, this time Osaka’s Tenjin Matsuri. Now I just need to go to the one in Tokyo in May to complete the set. This one is a 2 day festival, and I ended up going on the first day, since I had planned to meet with some friends afterwards. The first day of the festival is the less exciting day, as it doesn’t include second day’s impressive fireworks over the river as boats sail by. However, especially after going to Gion Matsuri, I really enjoyed the smaller crowds, as well as the fact that it took place in relatively narrow streets, which provided a lot of shade. There were lots of parades, drumming, and music, as well as a ton of food stalls set up, and while maybe not as fun as a fireworks display, I’d still recommend it over going to Gion.

Immediately after I was done at Tenjin Matsuri, I met up with some friends from my old neighborhood who took me to a local festival around Tamade called Daigaku Matsuri. This festival was very exciting and unique, with 2 huge bamboo platforms with lanterns suspended from a spinning post in the middle (see the picture). There were two of these, one with men, dressed in blue, and another with women dressed in red, all carrying the platform, and moving around in a mysterious pattern while some singing/chanting was being performed. I really enjoyed this quite a bit, and I feel it had a lot more personality and character than the larger festivals, since they seem to mainly be parading things down a street which starts to seem a bit samey after a while. Check out the gallery link at the end for lots more pictures and some videos, as it’s really interesting to see and hear in motion.

Finally, I stopped by my old watering hole, Beppinsan one last time before leaving. They were having a two day Yukata festival in the bar, where people can dress up in the traditional Japanese garment. However, due to the upcoming typhoon, it was semi-postponed, and only Juri, one of the staff, and one of the customers, Saeko wore any. It was great to see everyone one last time, though it was still hard to say goodbye again.

I had hoped to finish this post before I left, but I’m writing this from my friend Vedran’s place, where I’m staying until I find a new place to live. Right now, it feels similar to one year ago when I was getting set up in Japan for the first time. It’s really been an amazing year, and while I hate to have left, I’m also happy to be back. I already miss all of my friends in Japan, and I’m sure I will visit them again. I also am forever in debt to the Takehara family, who took care of me both on my first and last months in the Japan, and also treated me to an amazing sushi meal (as well as many others) before I headed back. I’m really going to miss staying there with them, they have become like family to me.

This finally wraps up my last of my 12 monthly updates. I don’t know that I will ever live in Japan again, but I will surely be back to visit all of the friends I made while I was there. Until the next blog post, Sayonara.

Gallery link