Iron Penis Festival and Odawara Castle

It's Adventure Time!!!

So I bet you're all wondering what I mean by the Iron Penis Festival. Well, once a year on the first Sunday of April in Kawasaki there's this fertility festival at the Kanamara Shrine. There you eat penis shaped foods (like banana-chocolate flavored crepes) as well as buy depictions of different sexual positions on small towels or charms. I heard about this festival at the end of my senior year in Santa Barbara and when I heard that it was on Sunday, I HAD to go. It was an imperative. I mean, who doesn't want to celebrate fertility and eat corn dogs and, omg, penis or vulva shaped lollipops?

It was incredibly embarrassing looking at all the giant wooden cocks.

I went with my new friend Tanyisha. Getting there was an adventure in itself. We were going to meet up with some of our fellow teachers, but we ended up walking from the Kawasaki train station to the Kawasaki-Daishi station where the actual festival is held. It took about half an hour, but we bumped into some fellow tourists (one was from Brazil and the rest were from various South-East Asian countries) and eventually found our way there. Sadly, Tan-chan and I got there after the lollipop man had sold out of all his hand-made penis and vulva lollipops. I really wanted one, though it would've been ridiculously embarrassing to actually eat one. We did succeed in getting a banana-chocolate crepe each, as well as take some (need I say) incredible pictures with giant renditions of phalluses. After wandering around the festival and spying a priest and priestess (I loved their outfits!), we went to the closer train station and got corn dogs (because they're phallus-shaped, and caught the train back to Odawara, where Tan-chan lives.

Odawara is actually quite the touristy area because it has a gorgeous castle that is simply littered with Sakura trees. I must say that Odawara, or at least the part she lives in, is not very well lit and seriously looked like a ghost town when we got off the train at night. I really wouldn't want to make that walk at night by myself. We dropped by Denny's for dinner and had the Japanese version of Denny's, which was really really good. Sadly, I had the tomato lasagna and found an inch by inch piece of plastic in it. The waitress apologized profusely. Tan-chan and I joked that they were trying to kill us after she had a coughing fit while eating her matcha green tea sundae. I got caramel. Since we were obviously the only ones who spoke English in the whole restaurant, we joked back and forth that the restaurant was going to sick "The Denny" on us, who would stalk us back to her place and kill us with a glowing red sword with a D for a handle like the little skewers that kept her sandwiches together. He'd also sing corny pop songs while he hacked us to pieces. We have a wonderful sense of humor. :3

After Denny's we got a six pack of beer and split it between the two of us while watching a movie at her place before sleeping. I slept in her loft, which is much smaller than mine. It was actually really nice and comfortable! I'm really tempted to drag my futon up to my own loft and sleep there instead, but my table and my laptop are down here, so that's obviously out of the question. Haha!

The next day it was raining. We went to Odawara Castle anyway and walked around looking at all the sakura trees. I can't begin to express how gorgeous they were. Walking beneath them and watching the petals fall with the slightest breeze was heart stopping. I'm thinking of going back to her place on Friday or Saturday to go back to the castle and see it when it's not raining. It was so beautiful. I used up my battery life just taking pictures there.

After admiring nature's beauty at its best, we found this cute little Italian restaurant called Piazza and had lunch there. It was delicious! And cheap. Tan-chan had the pasta lunch special and I had the fish lunch special. We're definitely going back there when we get a chance. I would love to eat there everyday. The owner and his assistant were really nice too. :D

After lunch we wandered around Odawara near its train station, which is a stop down from Tan-chan's station. I found out that my Japanese shoe size is 25, which is the largest size they make for women. Shoes only fit, it seems, if they're sneakers. lol. Not that I need more shoes, but my flats were totally drenched halfway through walking around the castle, which was why we looked. We totally walked into a kimono store called Sagami because I really wanted to look at the kimono. They had really cheap kimono there, and they looked really nice. I bought one because 1) it was cheap and 2) it came with an obi of your choice. My very first kimono! It's not made of silk, but it's still really nice. I figured out that most of the pinks they use for kimono doesn't look good on me because my cheeks flush too much and I blend in with the kimono. My kimono is black with wide pale yellow vertical stripes with flowers on it. I got it over another because it has flowers from all four seasons depicted on it, so it can be worn any time of the year. I don't have a hadagi, or under kimono, yet because Tan-chan said I could buy it elsewhere for cheaper. When I go back to her place this weekend, she's going to lend me her hadagi and her obi ties so I can wear my kimono to the castle again. :D

The woman who helped me try on my kimono, Keiko, liked me and Tanyisha so much that she asked for our addresses so she could mail us a letter! Tanyisha asked her to have tea with us, which is supposed to be a really big compliment in Japan. Hanging out with her is really teaching me a lot because she's been here for almost 3 whole years!

That night we cleaned up her place a bit (since she just moved in) and we watched Lilo and Stitch, which you should totally watch if you haven't already. It's a fun movie, not to mention they got real local kine actors to do the voices. It made me a little homesick.

The next day, today actually, I caught the train home. I was so overcome with emotion watching the sakura while flying by on the train that I almost cried. They are so beautiful. I could sit outside and watch them all day. I can see why hanami, or flower viewing, is so popular here. I'm really looking forward to the weekend so I can go see them again at the castle. :3

I came home to find a letter from grandma! I was so surprised and happy all at once. Reading her letter really made me homesick and I'm totally not ashamed to admit that I cried. I really miss my family and I really need to find out how much it costs to mail letters to America. haha. I'm going to try doing that tomorrow morning before I go to meet my Board of Education. I'm kind of nervous, but since over 100 other people are going I'm feeling a bit more confident. I finished writing my speech, which includes my name, age, where I was born, hobbies, and even the fact that I like Pokemon. I timed it and it won't even last a minute, even with slip ups. I hope they like me!