Arakawa Disaster Prevention Training

Last Sunday there was a disaster prevention training held by the local council and we as foreign students were encouraged to join it, since we had almost zero knowledge on how to cope with it in case of something happened, in this case probably an earthquake.

Over the past few months there were a few quakes here and there in Japan, but so far I've only felt for a very minor one. We can't take things for granted but it's not impossible that if one would struck and shake things up.

The training was located at Oku no hara Park (尾久の原公園) which is not very far away from the hostel, just 1km away and took like 15 mins to reach on foot.

It was scorching hot that morning, everyone were to stand under the unshaded field while listening to the officials' speeches. Luckily it weren't long-winded.


A fire truck with the elevator thingy, more about it in the coming pics.



The crowd....




Now this is an earthquake simulator, which obviously will shake as if the real earthquake struck.


There were a few magnitudes try out, most notably the 8.3 magnitude from the The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake which said to flatten down most part of Tokyo back then.
It might be interesting to try out simulation like this one, but surely there's no smile in the face if it really happens in real life.....



A head tip, should there's a quake, quickly bury yourself down under the table while cover the head with cushioning (pillow or something soft).

A German Shepperd dog.


A modern fire-extinguisher machine, nicknamed Dual Fighter Dragon.


A traditional-looking fire-extinguisher machine.


Folks trying out how to aim and shoot with water gun. The "119" digits is actually the number to call the fire department in Japan btw.


Putting out the fire.





Smoke house... basically gives people the impression of how it looks like when stuck inside the building during a fire.



I had this chance to get a lift up 20m above the ground thanks to this lucky draw.


A family's turn.


My turn, in the form of video. Besides me is hostelmate Lambert from Indonesia.


The entire experience was kinda fun, I gain instead of lose, which is always a good thing hah. Thanks to the school's staffs for everything, including bringing us there and preparing the food and beverage for us! :D

Arakawa Bon Odori

I've heard of Bon Odori festival (盆踊り) back in Malaysia, it's been held annually in Shah Alam and Penang but due to the distance and crowd I've never made it anyway. Saturday was the first time I join the Bon Odori Festival in Japan, which gives me quite another fresh taste of the Japanese culture.

The notice pasted on the hostel's notice board.


The location of the festival is not so far away from my hostel, and given that the school will cover all the expenses (which includes transport fee, entrance fee, and loaned yukata), so I happily join fellow schoolmates for the Bon Odori Festival.

We headed there around 3:30pm with a few fellow hostelmates and the hostel's person-in-charge, Ms Tobinai.
Took Toden line which cost 160 yen per way (regardless of location) and reached the location around 4pm.

Registered ourselves and met with the other schoolmates there.

OK, pictures time....

Inside the changing room where the staffs help us to put on yukata the proper way.


Jackson & Kelvin.


Cong Jie, me & Jackson.


The main stage.


Practising one of the dance moves.


Jackson being interviewed by the local broadcaster?


Gorgeous Cai Hong showing off the yukata.



Guy's yukata is not as fancy as the ladies'.


LOL these guys....


The few food stalls selling snacks instead of the usual Matsuri foods. They're still preparing when I took this pic though.


Take one and take two!



My yukata is too short, or maybe I'm too tall? LOL....


Me & Cong Jie posing, heh.


An extra "pops in".


Gathering outside waiting for the official opening speech.


The VIPs of the Arakawa district area.



よし！始まりましょう！




If you may noticed, on the stage there're people in light-blue yukata which are the veteran performers who taught us how to dance.



Dancing~



To give you a brief idea how's the dance, here's a vid. lol.... bunch of noobs dancing around. :P


Well basically we're dancing and moving in anti-clockwise direction around the field with the songs playing. Some might get bored after danced for awhile, but it's fun when you dance together with many people.

Later we rested awhile and having some breaks for the next round.

Me and Kelvin, with my "trademark" :D lol.


Max taking his own sweet time to take pic with the girls.



Later there were taiko drums performances.





The taiko drum performers were kinda cool but I still think that our 二十四节令鼓 sounded more intimidating and impressive. :P

Later we had our chance to try out the taiko for ourselves.


Young performers.


Me posing with the taiko drum lol.



Taiko drum is a simple instrument and doesn't need much time to catch the basics, but surely it needs a lot of training to master it and stamina to perform it at it's best.

The Bon Odori ended around 8pm. I certainly enjoyed it eventhough it's a small scale one.
It was a job well done by the organisers, gonna praise their professionalism in handling the event, flawless in almost everything (I actually don't see any problems at all!), truly what you would expected from the Japanese.

荒川区国際交流協会の皆さん、ありがとうございました、お疲れ様でした！