Late May and the month of June bring a beautiful and magical flare to the city of Itako. The months prior, many workers tended to the fields of the precious Ayame (iris) and created a magical concoction. In those months prior to the annual festival the mayor of Itako, Mr. Matsuda, kindly asked me to be one of the princesses of the iris festival. This is an honor and refusal is very rude and pretty much not an option. When asked to do something in Japan, it is very difficult to say no. 
I gladly accepted the role as I was sitting in a karaoke room in the "Jelly Bean" restaurant with John and many hilariously intoxicated Board of Education workers. We had an enjoyable evening of singing, eating, and drinking followed with the request of my presence every weekend at the iris festival.
The months have passed since that cold, rainy night and I am now standing amongst the irises every Saturday and Sunday. A typical day for me is to wake up at 6:30 and take a shower for the pre-preparation of me becoming a princess. The next step is I meet Osaki san (below left), one of the old Itako ladies, at her English school at 7:30 and she helps me into my yukata. 
A yukata is a summer time kimono (see above). It is made of cotton and is light and airy. There is also another foreigner, her name is Khalilah (ka-lil-lah) and she is a new ALT from Alabama. We dress at the English school and are on our way to the festival by about 8:15. The day begins officially at 8:30. 
At 8:30, all 14 of us beautiful iris princesses meet in our navy blue yukatas that have various colored iris on them and a bright yellow obe belt. I must admit we are a very beautiful batch of girls. We help each other make sure the fold of our yukatas are perfect and then we prepair for the day. We put together phamplets and walk around the ground of the iris park. We "meet and greet" the many visitors that come to our town. We walk around in groups of three. This has made a significant difference on my Japanese. I can tell that I am improving day in and day out. I am placed in a situation where I am forced to speak Japanese. It is fun when the people from Tokyo come up because they begin to speak English to me! It is a fun experience for me. I also take the time to speak to the children for various reasons. I am sure that not all of them want to be at an iris festival, I am sure I can think of about 300 + things they'd rather be doing. I try to speak to them in English as I know a majority of this country is learning English in school. Anyway I look at it it is a great experience to learn Japanese and share the experience to Japanese people of having interactions with foreigners.
The foreigners are great and fun to meet; however, I really enjoy talking with the iris princesses. We are all about the same age and of course are doing very different things. It is with talking to them that I really want to improve my Japanese. They are really fun girls and we try on both ends of the English - Japanese spectrum and always meet in the middle of some wonderful mix of the two. It has been a fun experience over all. 
Throughout the day, many different events happen. The biggest event is the irises themselves. There are over 500 different types of irises that bloom in the park. They range in color from white, purple, and yellow. Another big event is the bridal procession. Every year, many brides from across Japan want to be traditionally "sent off" on their big day. The procession begins at the top of the stairs and slowly (and I mean slowly) winds through the iris garden as she is being lead by a friend, her father, and followed by her mother. Traditional Edo period music is played during the procession. The procession ends with the bride being sent down the river in a boat to her husband waiting at the end. These are mostly real weddings but occasionally there are "fake" brides to fill the position. Also, some brides do not get married that day but rather later in the summer or fall.
Many vendors come to the area and sell the top festival foods. I enjoy Japanese festival food much more than I do America festival food. In Japan, it is so fresh and the variety is unbelievable! I always look forward to the festivals throughout the year so i can simply enjoy the food. It is difficult being the iris princess as I am not able to enjoy the festival food. 
I am working from like I said 8:30 and our part in the festival does not end until 5:00. This is a volunteer job. We enjoy bento lunches and have a few snack/rest breaks. The hardest part of being in a yukata are the shoes. The geta are traditional wooden sandals. We wear the proper socks but my feet still ache at the end of it all. We are standing for a very long time after all. The event is rain or shine and yes we are outside and no there is hardly any covering to protect us from the weather. An umbrella has become my best friend through this all. 
I have done the festival for 2 weekends now. This past weekend I did not participate because we had a sports festival at Hinode Junior High School. I will post on that later. The festival will keep continue throughout the end of the month. This weekend, 13th, I have invited a lot of my foreign friends to come from various parts of Ibaraki and Tokyo to come partake in the fun! It should be a really good turn out :) until next time...XO
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