文化祭、続き (ぶんかさい、つづき - bunkasai, tsuzuki) - Culture Festival, continued

Having enjoyed my other school's 文化祭 over the weekend, I thought I'd make a followup to the last Culture Festival post and share some of the photos with you. This one had a different focus with less emphasis on "indoorsy" cultural activities and cafes and more on hot food; a lot of the stalls braved the darkening skies, set up their outdoor griddles and got down to some hard-core food preparation. Despite the different take on things, it was no less fun this time around - in fact, their slogan for this year was "Create Fun". Did they manage to do it? See for yourself!

One thing that seems to be consistent between any 文化祭 is the amount of time and effort that goes into organising everything. In this case, all the guests were provided with a glossy festival guide featuring maps and locations of all the stalls. In case you missed anything, the noticeboard and windows on each floor advertised what was available as well.

Each class had also made a wall banner to stick up in the front windows, familiar characters welcoming everyone to the school. The colour was definitely a welcome break from the gloomy weather!

The other things that all 文化祭 have in common are the 開会式 (かいかいしき - kaikaishiki - Opening Ceremony) and 閉会式 (へいかいしき - heikaishiki - Closing Ceremony) to officially start and finish the festival. Having said that, each school's interpretation of what these should include differs, from the traditional to the out there. A reimagining of "Thriller" accompanied by the brass band, for example.

After the formalities were out of the way, it was time to see what was on offer. Like the last 文化祭, there were the club staples: the art club had some very impressive student work on display and in this case they were selling postcards with smaller prints on them...

I think the 華道部 (かどうぶ - kadoubu - flower arrangement club) had been even busier than last time, judging by the amount of 生け花 (いけばな - ikebana) on display...

and even the 茶道部 (さどうぶ - sadoubu - Tea Ceremony club) had based their operations outdoors, perhaps to help people warm up a little.

New this time was the 書道部 (しょどうぶ - shodoubu - calligraphy club), who were happy to fill any special requests for prints.

Some classes had opted to stay indoors and run cafes like "ワフルボム" ("Waffle Bomb") next door to us, who seemed to be doing a roaring trade. You even had a choice of four toppings! Can you read them all? I'll put the answers at the bottom of this post - don't cheat!

One of the more interesting ideas was a place where you could make your own skewer with 4 sweets on it and have a drink to wash it down. Here's the menu, can you work this one out? Answers at the bottom.

By this stage I was about ready for something a bit more substantial, so I headed outside where stalls had been set up in the carpark. Steam poured off the grills and production lines of students cooked away frantically, shouting the orders to one another.

The 焼きそば (やきそば - yakisoba - fried noodle) stand seemed to have things running smoothly; several cooks scooped away with their spatulas and brushed sauces on while others got them boxed up and ready to go.

The 焼き鳥 (やきとり - yakitori - grilled chicken skewer) stand students stood over open flames turning each skewer while the queue stretched on - the results were definitely worth the wait.

Some students had even managed to find themselves a たいやき (taiyaki - sweet grilled batter in the shape of a fish) grill and were busily filling each one with each customer's choice of あんこ (anko - sweet bean paste), カスタード (custard) or ピザ (pizza - tomato sauce and cheese). This was particularly good!

Finally, there was another festival favourite - ベイビーカステラ (baby castella). Castella is a sponge cakey Japanese dessert. It's made by pouring cake batter directly on to a griddle which makes it crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The "baby" version is cooked into bite-sized balls which make it easy to eat straight out of the bag.

Even the second time around, the 文化祭 was a lot of fun - it's definitely become one of my favourite festivals so far. The teamwork, the excitement and the dedication of all the students in getting things ready staggers me. It's also a great chance for them to show the community what they've achieved during the year and have a good time in the process. "Create Fun" indeed! I hope other people didn't spend as much time at the food stalls as I did though - otherwise they'll have to make next year's slogan "Create Fat".




ANSWERS
Waffle Bomb: A Maple syrup B Chocolate sauce C Strawberry jam D Sugar
Skewer cafe:
Left side: Wagashi (Japanese sweets), marshmallow, donut, castella, baumkuchen (a German roll cake that's becoming very popular here now)
Right side: Afternoon (午後 - gogo) tea, green tea, cola, orange juice, Calpis (a strange milky drink that tastes a bit like sweet drinking yoghurt)