Furano

The next morning after breakfast we set off for a sightseeing trip of Furano, which is famous for many things including the Lavender Gardens and the on-site location for the popular Japanese drama Kitano Kunikara (this family drama, loved by many Japanese viewers over the approximately 20 years of broadcasting, puts focus on a small, beautiful part of  the Hokkaido region, surrounded by nature. Set in the town of Furano in Hokkaido, the drama revolves around the story of the Kuroita family).

First on the list of places to visit there was the lavender farm called Farm Tomita. Where large gardens of lavender, and many other types of flowers created a beautiful display of colour. A pretty popular place for photos, as people snapped friends and family against the picturesque backgrounds. Here you found shops that sold every conceivable thing you could think of to make from lavender: skincare, candles, lollies, food and many things you can not make from lavender but can print pictures of lavender on.

There was also a lavender icecream vendor. Icecream was a popular treat at the farm with its soft lavender colouring and unique flavour

At the entrance to the farm was a dried flower and souvenir shop, with the most awesome display of dried fruits, vegetables and flowers draped and displayed artistically around the walls and ceilings in an inspired presentation. Again cameras were clicking everywhere, but capturing the scope of the display was not possible. There was a small bridge underneath the central hanging displays where people posed for photos.

We left the lavender farm and drove to visit the bush location of the popular television drama, Kitano Kunikara . Amongst the thicket bush were a few houses which had been built, over the 20 years, to represent the different houses the family lived in over the time the drama was being filmed. The drama is about a young family with two children. The mother dies and the father takes care of the children. He has no money and builds their house from whatever he can find. There were a few houses at that location (over time the father built different houses)  and we were told there were more locations in Furano similar to the one we were visiting. These locations have become something of a tourist attraction, much like Ramsey Street from the popular Australian soapie, Neighbours.

We then drove to Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido,  and had noodles (was it sorbet noodles?) at a famous noodle bar. There are messages and signatures from many Japanese celebrities posted up near the ceiling of this restaurant. Not far from here was the ‘Shooting Star’ hostel where we were staying the night. The price was pretty reasonable for  Sapporo, but that was  because it was a biker’s hostel and not quite as well maintained as some of the others we stayed at. However with our finances getting low, we were just glad to have  a place to sleep that would allow our budget stretch further.

There was also free internet here, even though it was slow, and I sat up as long as I could to post on the blog. (As it turned out it was much harder to access the net in Japan than I thought.  Most people carry phones and can do most of their online stuff commuting to and from work or school. Internet cafes were also,  much different than I expected. The one we went into in Tokyo was like a member’s club: clean, individual booths with a comfortable and stylish couch, up to date computers, showers outside the booths, and food if you wanted to stay long enough to eat. You could stay overnight up to 8 hours. You did have to sign in for a minimum membership fee).

I did my best to post as much as I could of the trip, but the amount of travel we had done in the last few days was taking its toll, and the wisdom of sleeping was evident.

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Niseko

The next morning we left for Niseko and I discovered about an hour into the trip, that I had left my camera behind. Mamiko and Yuko told me not to worry, that we could get it the next day when we returned the hire car. On the way though, we decided to extend the rental on the car for another two days to save hiring another car and moving all our luggage. I was concerned about whether we would get the camera back but the girls told me not to worry. It seems people in Japan assume that most Japanese people are honest, which is a wonderful thing.

When we arrived at Niseko, we went to the information centre and the girls found out there was  a discount pass to have three hot spring baths at different venues while you stay in the area.  Firstly, we went to the Hilton in Niseko, which was relatively basic, but had a nice outdoors bath (nice contrast to the cooler air outside) as well as some luxury bath products provided in the shower rooms. We spent quite a while there relaxing and getting clean after the past few days.

After that, we went for lunch at Terrazio’s restaurant and had some delicious seafood. Then we looked for accommodation without  luck and almost decided to camp in the car outside the 7/11 as they are 24 hours and have toilets inside. We had a bit of a laugh about this as it was raining and the whole situation seemed a but absurd, but the Yuko got a call from a friend, Mike, inviting us to a party.

As it turned out it was a wonderful experience. Mike, who we had met at the Ainu festival, is an interesting person, originally from the UK and now living in Japan for over 4 years. He knew lots of people and places. He arrived with his friends, so that we could follow them to the party which was a few kms out of Niseko, in a beautiful dome house set in bushland.

There were quite a few there already and as it was still raining we moved inside quickly to meet our host. This lovely man was passionate about Indian spiritual culture and inside two of the walls were devoted to Indian gurus and teachers. The photos and artifacts displayed were gently highlighted by candles and gentle drumming added atmosphere as the beautiful alternative Japanese people shared food and music.

Our host offered us green tea and we removed our shoes, parking them at the inside entrance with many other pairs of shoes. We made our way to a low table and settled in. During the evening there was drumming, flute, Indian chanting and an Indian inspired dinner served on a makeshift table.

An Indian man who had been at the festival ( many of these people we recognised from the festival) played a traditional stringed instrument and the most amazing Indian drum.

In the middle of the room was a sunken seated area surrounding a small wood stove used in the cold winters) and now decorated with candles. The atmosphere was gentle and quite unlike many parties in Australia, where the whole point seems to be to drink as much as you can as quickly as you can.  A few people drank saki or beer, but many drank green tea. Small groups formed to play drums, play flute or learn how to make throat tonal sounds (from Mike) or just talk and appreciate the experience. We had moved around a bean bag, which is where we eventually fell asleep.

The sense of harmony between the people there was beautiful and we felt comfortable and welcome enough to fall asleep. An was feeling cold and a little uncomfortable on the wooden floor, but our wonderful host covered everyone with blankets during the night, so we were able to sleep soundly.

There were still people talking and laughing as I went to sleep, when I awoke in the early morning there were bodies all over the floor, right up to the front door.  It was beautiful sight to see people sharing the space in sleep.

An and I went for an early morning walk and saw some beautiful homes, surrounded by bush and relatively free of bitumen, power poles and other such infrastructure. The homes were mainly designed for the cold ski season but a wonderful place to live for those who prefer a more natural environment.

When we got back we all decided we needed a hot bath and said our goodbyes to Mike and his friend (our host). We were so appreciative of his hospitality and the  evening was a memorable one for us all.

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Last day with the Ainu People

Sorry it has taken me awhile to get back to this blog, but had to focus on other things for a while. Hope to catch up quickly in the next few days.

The last day of the festival, we went to say our goodbyes. Everyone was picking up rubbish from the grounds (there was not much really) and sorting it into glass, paper, plastic, compost, tin and miscellaneous items that were then placed in sectioned areas. This happened everywhere we went in Japan, as people  are very concious about recycling and everywhere you see bins that have at least 3 sections for sorting rubbish. The festival grounds were left clean and with minimum impact on the environment. The long drop toilets were getting pretty smelly by the end of the 5 days and An was glad that we would not be there for much longer.

I went to say goodbye to some of the lovely Ainu people we had met there, as well as some of the other festival goers we had connected with. The Ainu people were still hoping that Gudju Gudju would be coming and I explained how disappointed the members of the band were that they were not able to get the grant to come this year and how they had tried till the end to find a way to travel there. One of the ladies we met on that last day even sang two of Gudja Gudja’s songs word for word.

It was  such an honour to witness the esteem they held for the music and lyrics, memorised from 10 years previously. We swapped contact details with some of the people there, thanked them for their marvelous hospitality and wished we had brought Gudja Gudja cds with us.

Then back to pack up camp and have a breakfast of noodles cooked on the camp fire before the rain got too serious.

After a couple of days without showering (except for washing at the creek)  we set off to find some hot spring baths (sento) The girls love them and Hokkaido has plenty, and each one is different. Firstly, though, we went to the Ainu museum to look at Ainu cultural artifacts and see more of the traditional housing. We spoke to one of the local women

who was tending the hearth inside one of the community huts. The building was pretty roomy and comfortable with its thatched walls and roof. This particular lady was not sure whether the festival was a good idea for Ainu people, as it attracted many alternative festival goers and in her opinion posed a risk to the young vulnerable and more  culturally protected Ainu youth.

However the lady in the next hut we went into, who was Ainu, believed that it was an important part of educating people about the indigenous culture and strengthening the Ainu culture at the same time.  She was weaving mats from grasses and told us that she taught Ainu language at the Ainu school. After leaving the Ainu museum,  we visited the Ainu school, as we heard that people could stay there sometimes to learn the language and culture.The school comprised of a set of dwellings, made up of some traditional cise and  other more regular buildings. We were taken into one of the huts,  but the occupant was recovering from the festival, so we left him to his reading and the fire in the hearth and went into town to have some lunch.

We ate at an Ainu owned and run restaurant and tried some delicious local specialties, including deer meat in a broth with noodles. As a side dish we tried something that the girls referred to as ‘like dim sims’ but as we found out later it is quite a rare specialty, only found at this restaurant and prepared by this one lady.

After lunch we left again to find the hot baths  so we could take a much needed shower and soak in the hot baths. Hokkaido is popular for its hot springs which are located everywhere. We found one attached to a resort and had a much welcome shower and bath.  Ken and Ayumi left after the baths to go back to Sapporo, as they had a hotel booked there as part of their hire car deal and we left to find the accommodation that Mumiko had reserved. It turned out to be an Indian Style hostel and there was an Indian music concert starting shortly after our arrival, performed by a talented Japanese musician called Sagar (who had studied music in India for several years), his Nepalese wife and a young Japanese woman who played Indian drums with passion and skill. The way she used her fingers to play the percussion, you could tell she must have practiced for quite while to toughen them, as well as master the intensity of the playing style. The concert was played in a small hall outside adjoining the hostel,  and the performance area was decorated with Indian cloths. It was quite an unexpected treat and free for the people staying at the hostel.

After the concert we had tea in the hostel dining room and chatted with the musicians. They also had with them some beautiful Nepalese jewelry for sale, but we were being careful with money, though I did buy one of Sagar’s cds. I hope he is able to go back and study some more, as he told us that grants do not exist for musicians like himself to further their knowledge and skills and he would have to raise his own funds if he were to go back to India and learn more.

It was a well kept hostel, and interestingly presented with its accents on Indian culture and the musicians came back each year to play there and visit the area.

It was a pretty big day and we slept well that night, especially Yuko and Mumiko.

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Thankyou for being there in body or spirit!

To everyone who helped, sponsored, attended or assisted in any way with putting on the Enchanted Rainforest event, as part of the Kuranda Spring Fair, a sincere thanks.

This year saw a different approach to the Spring fair, incorporating the 50th anniversary of the Kuranda Honey House : a milestone for any business and unique in Kuranda.  Celebrations were held in and around the Honey House incorporating a cooking competition (using Honey House  honey), a bee treasure hunt and the Honey Bee dance.

Local performance artist, Joelle Baines, lent a touch of magic to the day with her ‘Moving Rainforest’  interactive performance. Greeting people as she circulated around the ‘markets’. Her costume is pretty impressive. See more at http://www.movingrainforest.com

Sunday we enjoyed the most beautifully decorated birthday cake made by our own Lisa Dewey.

Thankyou to the community groups who came and supported the event, we appreciate your efforts and trust next year will bring even greater involvement from the community. Community groups set up in and around the park opposite the markets area and other activities including the Siren’s corset fashion parade, busking competition, the film “The Whale Dreamers”,  Enchanted Rainforest exhibition and drum and fire circle were held in the Original Kuranda Rainforest Markets. The Nevermind Cafe held the Song Writers competition and the Poet’s breakfast was held at the Queen Bee Cafe. Kelly Malone launched her new cd at the Kuranda Resort and Spa on Saturday night.

Thanks to all the buskers who took part in the busking event, you put such an enjoyable show that Jerome decided to split the prize money between the entrants who were there on the last day of the fair. Over the weekend we were lucky enough to be entertained with theatre, magic circus and song.

The Honey House celebrations were popular with the kids, especially the treasure hunt and dress up activities.  Congratulations Honey House on reaching icon status.Thanks to Sally as well for organising a children’s wand and mask making workshop over the weekend.

Clive put together a magic exhibition of mandala art inspired by connection to nature, with beautiful stories of each piece accompanying them. Alongside the exhibition Nino had his musical tree instrument which he was happy to let people play. (Still waiting on some good photos of both the exhibition and the tree instrument)

Another l feature of the weekend was the photo exhibition put together by the Kuranda Camera Club, thanks for putting that together at short notice. Look forward to seeing more of their photos in the future.

Daniella Jones, a local artist, organised the children’s art exhibition, which was well represented in two categories. Congratulations to the winners. Please check out Daniella’s work at www.daniellajones.com and www.wildarttiles.com

The market program would not have been complete without the drumming and fire circle which started later in the afternoon. As we entered into the evening a good crew of drummers, twirlers and poi performances kept the audience entertained as they relaxed around the fire with hot chai. While over at the Kuranda Resort and Spa, Kelly Malone performed songs from her new cd.

Here are some of the first photos to come through, more to follow as they become available. there are some great photos of the moving rainforest and some of the bigger fairies to come.

firetwirling at the fire and drumming circle

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Kuranda Spring Fair 2009: Enchanted Rainforest

2009 KURANDA SPRING FESTIVAL

in conjunction with

HONEY HOUSE KURANDA’S 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

11TH, 12TH AND 13TH SEPTEMBER , 2009

This year’s Spring Festival will be bigger and better than ever with fantastic forest fantasy events and the Honey House 50th celebrations in a jam packed program.

Theme: Enchanted Forest

Friday 11th Sept – the Spring Fair returns to its roots with the opening night hosted by Kuranda Amphitheatre at the Understage. Doors open 6.30pm

AND: Fancy Dress Disco for youth at the CWA hall 6.30pm – 9.30pm

Saturday 12th Sept 10am – 8.30pm

Sunday 13th Sept 10am –3.30pm

CHILDREN’S ACTIVITIES

• Face painting
• Dress up as a honeybee – materials supplied OR come dressed as your favourite enchanted forest character
• Treasure Hunt – prizes for all
• Weaving Project – collaborative craft
• Time capsule – be part of history and help bury the 2009 time capsule – to be opened in 2029

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COMPETITIONS

Great Prizes!!!

• Children’s Art competition
  • Entries close Wed 9th September
  • Submit to Daniella at Wildart Kuranda Market Mall
• Busking competition
  • Register by 10th Sept to Jerome 0406204224
• Poet’s breakfast
  • Sunday 9am Queen Bee Café
  • Enter on the day – see David Jones
• Song writing competition
  • Enter on the day at Nevermind Cafe
• Best dressed – adults; children; dogs; bikes
  • Enter on the day with Lisa @Original Markets
  • Remember the theme is: Enchanted Forest OR Honeybees for the Honey House anniversary
• Honey House Cooking Challenge
  • Register now as places are limited
  • See Trish at Honey House

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All day activities

• Money wheel by Kuranda Kindy
• Children’s weaving project
• Street theatre
• Magic tree installation
• Face painting
• Foam play in the park
• Best dressed
• Sausage sizzle
• Enchanted Forest Art Exhibition

Siren Corsets Fashion Show

• Food, food and more food
• Heaps of stalls and displays by local community groups

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HONEY HOUSE 50TH CELEBRATIONS

• Welcome to Country by Gerald Hobbler
• Mayiwamba (honeybee) dance by our local indigenous youth
• Cooking challenge
• Children’s dress up
• Children’s treasure hunt
• Memorabilia board and display
• Equipment display by QBA North Qld Club
• Extra Special offers for all locals on all honey for Spring Fair weekend

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First day at the Ainu Festival

At the centre of the festival location, the site is at Biratori,  was a  hand crafted stage (powered by a generator),  covered areas for shade,  shelter and for conducting ceremony, an embroidery workshop,  undercover areas for general purposes, and a small village of organic looking stalls and exhibit areas. Amongst this was dotted tepees and cise (Ainu traditional huts) and a charming and rustic cafe and bar.

After a breakfast of noodles at camp, we made our way to the creek to wash and then to meet some of the festival organisers and those who had come along like us to learn about Ainu culture and enjoy time in nature listening to music and creating a sense of community.

As it was the last full day of activities, this was the day that the Ainu people were performing ceremony for the ancestors. The ceremony involved intricate processes of blessing and sharing food with each other and the ancestors. For this they used special instruments to flick the food to the spirits, as well as draw the energies in.

This ceremony  was all conducted around a fire hearth, which was carefully prepared before hand. In the background are special ritualistic and decorative carvings made from the willow branches and significant to Ainu ceremony and culture.

The Ainu people wore their traditional clothing, featuring the distinctive protection embroidery designs. On the heads they wore headbands in the same style and some of them wore the gloves and leg covers as well. They look striking in their clothing.

The rest of us attending the ceremony, sat undercover (it was raining lightly) on the tarp covered ground, at first watching the ceremony and then later we were invited to participate by sharing food and offering  it to our ancestors by flicking the food or drink from the bowl with a special ceremonial stick. We were asked to acknowledge our parents by thinking of their names, while we offered the saki to the ancestors by flicking it towards the fire using a spatula-like stick and bowl (ikupasuy & tuki) to send prayers back to the deities. Then we drank a little saki from the bowl and passed it on.

Two of the Ainu people present sang an American Indian song in honor of the Hopi Indian present who represented his people at the festival. The sang with such passion and heart, it was a moving performance and tribute.

After a lengthy ceremony of sending prayers, offering food and chanting, the Ainu elder called for trays of food to be passed around to everyone present. After this everyone dispersed and one group of people left to do a similar ceremony at the traditional cemetery in the mountain. Here the rules of protocol were a lot stricter.

Follow the ceremony, there were food tastings and games including a game similar to quoits where you throw circular coils made from willow bough onto the hook of a branch. This game is a traditional one passed down for many generations.

In the afternoon there were Ainu performances of traditional dancing and songs. The performers dressed in their head bands and tunics, covered with the embroidered symbols of protection. Historically, the Ainu believed thast covering the openings of their clothing with these symbols protected them from negative spirits entering through at these points. The young male dancers wore the gloves and leg wear as well, and looked awesome. Some of the young women, also used hunting tools like bows and arrows as part of their dance.

Nearby there was a workshop where you could learn to embroider the Ainu  symbols and make your own headband. This was a popular activity during the festival and Yuko started one while she was there. She was also honoured and deeply touched to be presented with one by the Ainu lady who was teaching the embroidery class.

To finish off the Ainu cultural events of the day, there was a circle dance around the fire, and we were all invited to dance. This was a statement of unity and again symbolic of our connection with Ainu and with each other.

Later in the evening there were performances by some of the musicians who were still there. One of them, Pak-Poi, A Korean/Japanese is quite well known in Japan. He played and sang a powerful set of songs including one called ‘No More Hiroshima’, which warns against the repeat  of the injustices and tragedy around war and reminding us never to let such things occur again.His songs were sometimes controversial  and he sang them with a passion and conviction that was deeply moving.

After that a Japanese reggae band played.  They played well and certainly looked the part. Near the end their set, Yuko and I walked with Mamiko to the creek to soak her foot, which had been scalded by boiling water from the small pot of water she was heating on a small gas burner to make tea at the camp earlier that evening. After she  let the cold creek water run over her feet for a while, we returned to an undercover area at the main site to listen the music. While we sat there, one of the Ainu men came in with his traditional stringed instrument, much like a guitar but with a much leaner and more rectangular base and played a song. He asked us if we knew what it was and I guessed (though I forget now) and he was pleased with that.

After the stage performances finished many people stayed around the fire to talk, listen to campfire performances or just enjoy their last night at a unique and special festival and location. We settled in for a drier night in the tent, while An opted for the back of the car. It was a special day.

(More photos later)

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