Mascot Festival

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24

I set my alarm for very early, so I could meet Elizabeth outside at 10:15. She was early, which I hate because I can see her from my window and it makes me feel even more delinquent for not being quite ready yet.

We made it to the station on time and hopped an express.

In Hikone, I had a guess as to where the festival was, and led the way as we followed the crowds. I was right and we were met by tents handing out travel information (all in Japanese) for different places. Each place had its own mascot, which was usually somewhere nearby being mobbed by people.

It had been my goal all along to get as many pictures as possible. I'd heard there'd be 40, so I adopted the pokemon mentality of “gotta catch 'em all!” Monique, poor girl, ended up my photographer, snapping pictures when she could or hopping in with me when the mascot's handler (and each had one) was around to take the picture for us. Many were cute, some were odd, some were downright ugly. Monique's favorite was one that looked like Sesame Street's Grover wearing a gold crown. She got a phone charm of him.

At one booth, you could put on a samurai costume and get a picture. I did. It was awesome and the sword and hat were really, really heavy.

We stopped for lunch at a stall selling mochi, which was tasty, although I wasn't feeling terribly great. Certainly quite tired. On our way out, we met Alara and another JET (although we'd expected to see many more!) and I ran into a group of my students. I said hello and even got a picture with them and a random mascot.

By the end, I had over 75 mascots photographed and know I missed many more. Elizabeth said that she heard there were about 140, in which case, I pretty much failed my goal, but, you know, I put in good effort. It's also more mascots than I've probably ever seen in my life.

We stopped in at “La Pomme d'amour,” a French bakery in Hikone and picked up a dessert each as a special treat. I got a chocolate tarte, artfully decorated and topped with a flake of gold.

Once home, I was feeling worse, so even though I felt I should do something productive, I laid down for a nap, made even longer by how hard it was to crawl back OUT of my warm futon into my cold apartment.

I had an e-mail back (on a SUNDAY?!) from the event and I have a ticket for me if I can pay for it. I get to go to the bank and attempt a bank transfer this week and then I'll be all set. I'll keep you posted.

I eventually took a nice hot bath and thawed out my numb digits. They were looking rather purple, which friends tell me isn't good.