今週末に「大人の夜市 in 寺町」が開催されます。
１１のお寺が参加し、それぞれ趣向を凝らした催しを行うことになっています。

台風が心配されていますが、土曜日の午前中に開催されるかどうかが決定されます。
お出かけ前に今治市中心市街地再生協議会のサイトをチェックしてください。
http://chuushin-imabari.jp/

チラシはここからご覧ください。



地図はこちらから。


The Night Stall event in Tera-machi, where many tera (temples) are grouped
to built,from 4pm to 9pm. Each temple will offer you various experiences, such as
a tea ceremony, zazen (Zen sitting meditation),yukata (simmer kimono) wearing,
shakyo (Japanese calligraphy of Buddhist sutra) and so on.
Some of them are subject to fees, but most are free.
There will be Hula dance, djembe, steel pan, and Rakugo
(Japanese comic storytelling) performances.
They will sell drinks and food.

These are the names of the temples to participate in the event.
大雄寺(Daio-ji)
隆慶寺(Ryukei-ji)
圓光寺(Enko-ji)
圓浄寺(Enjo-ji): (starting point of collecting stamp marks)
大仙寺(Daisen-ji)
西蓮寺(Sairen-ji)
法華寺(Hokke-ji)
正法寺(Shoho-ji)
幡勝寺(Mansho-ji)
常高寺(Joko-ji)
稱名寺(Shomyo-ji)

If you visit all these eleven temples to collect a stamp mark,
you will receive a prize!
It would be fun to stroll around the tera-machito collect stamp marks.

As you already know, a typhoon might hit Imabari this weekend.
The organizer of the event will decide whether they will hold(開催）
the event or cancel(中止）it in the morning on Saturday.
You should check the website before you leave for the event.
http://chuushin-imabari.jp/

Imabari's popular annual event, Imabari Jazz Town'will be held very soon!
The town stage will be held on Saturday, August 24th, featuring various
style of jazz performances in eleven different venues around Imabari.
The Main Stage on Sunday, August 25th will be held at Texport Imabari.
At the Main Stage this year, wonderful artists including Takeshi Inomata Jazztet,
will show their excellent performances.
Let's have a wonderful jazzy time at 'Jazz Town, Imabari' this weekend!

“Town Stage Guide”　Saturday, August 24th
Town Stage of the JAZZ TOWN 2013 will be held in the eleven places in the
evening until late at night on Saturday, August 24th. Since the capacity
of the venue is limited, we recommend you to make a reservation in advance.
You will be able to buy a ticket at Imabari Jazz Town Office in the Imabari
Chamber of Commerce(2-3-20 Asahi-machi, Imabari
/Tel: [phone] Monday to Friday 9:00 to 17:00) or at each venue.

◆どんどび商店街
Dondobi in the Ginza shopping arcade ( 2-7-7 Tokiwa-cho, Imabari / 0898-32-7230 )
Crash Jazz Orchestra will play at Dondobi on the Ginza arcade street.
This is the biggest band performance among all the town stage performances.
Artist: The Bachelors (Ehime University)
Crash Jazz Orchestra
Time: 18:30 to 20:30
Capacity: 50 seats
Fee: free

◆千年松
Sennenmatsu (25 Nagoma Yoshiumi-cho, Imabari / 0897-84-4192)
This venue is in Oshima
Artist: Kobayashi Unit with Mary Omoto
Time: 18:30 to 20:30
Capacity: 30
Fee: free

◆伯方開発総合センター
Hakata Kaihatsu Sogo Center (1668-30 Kou Kanoura Hakata-cho, Imabari/0897-72-2725)
Artist: Takeshi Inomata Jazztet
Time: 18:00 to 20:00
Capacity: 100
Fee: 2,000yen (including 1 drink)

◆コンテックスタオルガーデン
Kontex Towel Garden (854-1 Kou Takuma, Imabari/0898-23-3933)
Artist: Atsuhiko Sugimoto Group
Time: 18:30 to 20:30
Capacity: 60
Fee: 2,000yen (including 1 drink)

◆青山石工房　今治店
Seizan –Ishi Kobo (Seizan Stone Gallery) (319-2 Kou Takaichi, Imabari/0898-43-4488)
Artist: Thirty-one trio plus SHIHO
Time: 19:00 to 21:00
Capacity: 90
Fee: 2,000yen (including 1 drink)

◆風音
Kaon (2-3-35 Umagoe-cho, Imabari / 0898-33-7337)
Artist: Nagano Yukio plus Hitomi Oda
Time: 19:00 to 21:00
Capacity: 30
Fee: 2,000yen (including 1 drink)

◆かねと食堂
Kaneto Shokudo (1-2-16 Muroya-machi, Imabari / 0898-22-1997)
Artist: Sun Ship
Capacity: 80
Fee: 2,000yen (including 1 drink)

◆神戸洋酒倶楽部
Restaurant & Bar ‘Kobe Whisky Club’ (1-2-7 Kitahorai-cho, Imabari/0898-25-7667)
Artist: Yasuo Sakurai & His Friends + Rikako Yokoyama
Time: 20:00 to 22:00
Capacity: 40
Fee: 2,000 yen (including 1 drink)

◆のが美
Nogami (1-2-7 Matsumoto-cho, Imabari / 0898-32-7705 )
Artist: Yoko Motomura + Kaori Hino + Tsunayuki Watanabe
Time: 21:00 to 23:00
Capacity: 25
Fee: 2,000yen (including 1 drink)

◆BAR Shu
Bar Shu (1-3-1 Matsumoto-cho, Imabari / 0898-24-2088 )
Artist: Keiko Kurita + Osamu Kawakami Duo with Tomomichi Takahashi
Time: 21:00 to 23:00
Capacity: 40
Fee: 2,000yen (including 1 drink)

◆アートギャラリーカフェ
Art Gallery Café (4-2-8 2F Tokiwa-cho Imabari / 070-5687-9349)
Artist: Mina Yamano quartet
Time:21:00 to 23:00
Capacity:40
Fee: 2,000yen (including 1 drink)


“ Main Stage ” Sunday, August 25th
Date: Sunday, August 25th
Place: Texport Imabari (5-14-3 Higashimon-cho, Imabari-shi 0898-23-8700)
Ticket: 3000yen (advance ticket) 3800yen (today's ticket)
Time: Welcome performance 15:00～17:00 (free of charge)
　　　Performed by Gospel Group', Full House and Solution from Ehime University
Stage performance 17:30～
Artist:Atsuhiko Sugimoto Group
Keiko Kurita & Osamu Kawakami DUO with Tomomichi Takahashi
Inomata Takeshi Jazztet

Special Guest:Yoshitaka Akimitsu

いよいよ今週末は「おんまく」ですね！
外国人の方々にも、ぜひ今治の夏祭りを楽しんでいただきたいと思います。
I'm very excited to have Onmaku festival this weekend!
I hope foreign residents in Imabari will enjoy it!

主なイベントスケジュールをお知らせします。
Here is the schedule and information about Onmaku.


Onmaku (Summer Festival in Imabari) schedule

Saturday August 6th to Sunday 7th
Various events will be held in the downtown shopping arcade (Imabari ginza), Hirokoji street, Bari terrace, and Marine square.

Marine Square
Opening ceremony will be held on Saturday from 10:30.
Kotobukidaiko (Japanese drum performance), Kiyari (workmen’s chant for cerebration) will be performed.

Shopping Arcade (Imabari ginza)
*Saturday
Bari Dance performance: 16:00 to 17:40
Japanese Dance Performance: 19:00 to 20:55
*Sunday
Shimanami Kaido Taiko (Japanese drum performance): 11:00 to 16:30
Jazz band : 17:30 to 19:00

Hirokoji Street ( The wide street between the port and Imabari City Hall)
*Saturday
Bari Dance Performance :16:00 to 17:40
Japanese Dance Performance : 19:00 to 20:55
Fire Fighter Band :17:50 to 18:50
Tsugijishi - (Lion Dance Performance): 18:00 to 18:50
Dancing Parade: 21:00 to 21:20

Bari Terrace (Refreshment Stands)
Saturday: 11:00 to 21:00 / Sunday :11:00 to 19:00
Place: Kihara Parking (1-1-2 Taisho-cho, in front of Marunaka supermarket)
There will be about 20 food stands in the venue, selling beer, French fried, yakitori, ramen, snow corn and etc. You will see various dance performances on the special stage　in the venue from 13:40 to 21:00 on Saturday and from 11:00 to 18:00 on Sunday.

Fireworks will be displayed on Sunday, August 7th from 20:00 to 21:00
Place: Imabari Port
9000 of fireworks will be going off!

That was a long weekend.Ｉam so tired! Friday was the National Foundation Day, but there is no specific celebration for this occasion. People prefer to relax or to spend some time with their family. In my case, I went to Matsuyama with my friends Youji and Enn for the Tsubakisan! We ate at yakiniku restaurant. Because it was a very cold day, we really appreciated to eat hot grilled food. They put a pot with burning charcoal on the middle of the table and we cooked the meat on the grill.





After that, we went directly to the festival. The purpose of this event is to bring luck for your business. Youji's cousin asked him to go there and to buy a talisman for him. The festival street was so crowded, I felt like I was in Asakusa area in Tokyo. We lined up and we finally prayed in front of the temple. I bought some takoyaki, my friend tried chicken skin dumplings and we also ate crêpe. The crêpe booth was so popular, we waited around 20 minutes before they served us.




The same weekend, I participated at the International Cooking Event in Imabari. We were 6 foreigners and we cooked some original recipes from our respective country. I also received help from 5 young girls. I really like this experience because my team cooperated and all of them enjoyed cooking food with me. But we, the “Rabitto Chefu” team, didn’t won. Actually, they didn’t have a special prize for the winner, so I guess the purpose for this activity is to eat different kinds of food and to enjoy it. One more thing, you can see Martin and me in the Tuesday Ehime newspaper!




For this occasion, I prepared “pâté chinois”, ceasar salad and Cream Sugar. For the last one, I’m not sure if they appreciated it because most of the Japanese are not used to eat sweet food and cream sugar is “over the top” sweet. I really enjoyed watching their smile changing into a grimace when they were eating it. That was very hilarious.

I finally met him. He is cute, very popular, yellow and you can see his pictures everywhere in Imabari.
I’m talking about バリィさん of course! かっこいいよ!
The last weekend, it was possible to visit some houses to sell.
Not too far from my home-stay family house, I visited one of them.
The seller never expected me, a Canadian who is single, to want to visit it.
“No wife, no children, living in Imabari for only 4 months, what was his reason to see this house?”he was probably thinking.
Then I told him I want to meet バリィさん.
From that point, he decided to let me enter.
Maybe he wanted to be nice with me, he had nothing to lose anyway.


Inside the house was very cool. From the second floor windows, it was possible to see mountains.
The house seems small but because everything is so convenient, you don’t need to worry about that.
The outside aspect is also cool. I really like the modern design of the building and the facade wood structure. If I had a job in Imabari, a nice family and a Japanese passport, I would like to live there. One more thing, バリィさん was there. The kids were dancing around him, playing and chatting with him. I guess I’m a little bit too old to play with him. I guess I’ll have another occasion.


I think ゆるキャラ is really a good way to promote a city.
Through them, you can express feelings from the population, their differences and their values.
When I’m learning more about バリィさん, I think I’m also learning more about Imabari population.
But I still have a hard time to understand Imabari expressions.
I think バリィさん is the cutest of all ゆるキャラ.
Do you feel the same way?