The best equivalent of the 文化祭 I can think of is a school fete - the basic idea of involving the community and setting up stalls to sell things is the same. However, it's done on a much bigger scale - every student sets something up within their class or 部活動 (ぶかつどう - bukatsudou - club activity) groups and the school is opened up to the public for the day so anyone can enjoy them. Posters line all the walls and notice boards on the day, advertising what's available.
The students spend a huge amount of time deciding on ideas for their particular group. For some, it's an easy decision - just do what you do best! In this case, for example, the 茶道部 (さどうぶ - sadoubu - Tea Ceremony club) put on demonstrations by the hour for people to come in and enjoy...
the brass band club performed concerts for everyone...
and the chorus club (like the school choir) serenaded everyone at the top of the stairs.
For the class groups and some of the other clubs, it's not so cut and dried and a bit of creativity is in order. The most common ideas, apparently, are cafes and お化け屋敷 (おばけやしき - obakeyashiki - haunted houses). The cafes and food stalls generally choose a theme, either for the food or the decor, and put in a huge amount of work preparing all the food and drinks and getting the room decorated just right. お化け屋敷 need a lot of time and money spent on blacking out the windows, buying costumes and props and trying to make everything as scary as possible. Whatever you choose to do, your stall/exhibit/performance is done in your classroom- you have to work with what you have!
Some of the simpler ideas involved just putting desks together, throwing over some table cloths and putting up a curtain to block off the food preparation area. This was the 団子 (だんご - dango - round rice balls on sticks) cafe's approach - no frills or gimmicks. The 団子 were amazing though!
Some of the other cafes and restaurants went a bit further - dainty teacups and dessert forks for the posh scone cafe, for example, or blaring Super Mario music and decor at "マリオのケーキカフェ" ("Mario's Cake Cafe") - it really is a chance for the students to be creative and have fun.
Food and drinks at the 文化祭 are very cheap - it's rare for a "set" with something to eat and a cup of tea or coffee to cost more than 100 or 200 yen ($1.20-$2.40). Serving food does present some problems, though - cooking, plating up and washing up. Thankfully, a lot of the students volunteered to wait on tables, be kitchenhands and run trays of food and dishes to and from the staging area. It was a pretty well oiled machine!
Of course, not everything was a performance or a food stall - several of the clubs turned their rooms into free exhibits showcasing the work they had been doing throughout the year, such as paintings done by the art club and 生け花 (いけばな - ikebana) done by the 華道部 (かどうぶ - kadoubu - flower arrangement club).
As for me, I was conscripted into the ESS ("English Speaking Society" - what most schools call their English club) activities for the day and decided to (re)introduce Japan to Vegemite, fairy bread and chocolate Quik (and the koala nose spoon thing). I'm not sure why I look so serious about it.
I was expecting the fairy bread to go quickly, but I was surprised to find the Vegemite crackers were snapped up too. Before long, the line stretched out the door and I was hard pushed to keep up with the demand. The ESS students did some performances of Red Riding Hood and もも太郎 (ももたろう - Momotarou - a fairy tale about a boy who lives in a giant peach) which were filled to capacity every time. I take full credit for bringing the crowds in!
All up, the 文化祭 was a really fun day and I can definitely understand why it's taken so seriously now. If you're lucky enough to be in Japan when there's one on, make sure to go and visit and I'm sure you will too. Whether you're eating cake, shuffling through the お化け屋敷 or just seeing some of the hard work that's been done, It's one of the few chances in the school year for everyone to really let loose and have a lot of fun - don't miss out on the opportunity!
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