By Rachel on September 7, 2006
The pictures from the 2006 Japanese Festival in St. Louis are finally up!
I had a great time dancing, met some fantastic people, and have memories that’ll last a lifetime. I would like to first thank Montgomery Sensei, the other more experienced Bon dancers that helped me, and all my friends that took part in the dance and practiced with me.
This festival was great, but I’m still tired and my toes still hurt . I actually have a blister from where the thong from my zori rubbed. My zori were still better than the other, authentic zori that my non-Japanese companions had to wear. I’m sorry, but zori were made for tiny, tiny, Japanese feet, not American feet…The zori I made held up remarkably well and I only had to touch them up once. I’ll remake them even better for next year, so, “nah-nah-nah” to you people who paid $30 for uncomfortable zori 
!
Posted in Japanese Culture
I was exposed to anime as a child while living in Germany after watching the Japanese version of Hans Christian Anderson’s the Little Mermaid. In high school, a classmate in art brought in Akira as an example of Japanese art. I wasn’t very impressed with anime at the time, but my re-exposure to it in 2000 thanks to Escaflowne had me hooked for life.After sorting out what I liked about anime (great stories, beautiful animation and epic battles) and disliked about anime (big boobs, angst-y 15 year-old kids, most mecha, sports stories and style-over-substance), I got into it with a vengeance.I do love almost all aspects of Japanese culture and try to be involved with it as much as possible. I have no problem admitting that I incorporate a lot of Japanese trends and traditions into my life as I modify them and make them my own. Anime is a big part of that, along with all the sub-cultures, past and present.
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