July 2, 2011 ラハイナ浄土

I cannot believe that half the year has gone by!  嘘、マジで!  Time seems to have flown by.  Doesn't seem like I have done much in 6 months, but in actuality, I have when I think about it.  I have taken an accounting course at UH West Oahu while going to work full time and doing an internship with a CPA.  I also had dance practices and marathon training.  Plus I went to Japan in February!

Tonight is Lahaina Jodo's obon!  This is our Sensei's church.  The Nakayama Minyo Kai all tries to make it to this dance.  The only problem about getting to this church is the parking....there isn't any!  We all have to head out there early and with as little amount of cars as possible.  I thought that leaving around 5:00 PM would be good.  That would mean arriving in Lahaina at 6:00 PM.  I was soooooo wrong!

I guess it really is the "in" thing to go to obon.  I remember when it used to be less crowded at any obon.  That was 15 years ago when I was still in grade school!  Lahaina Jodo is one of the most busiest obons on the island.  It's a big tourist attraction.  There's a giant Buddha statue, pagoda and a lantern ceremony.

At least we are early enough for me to get my usual かき氷!  Plus I can go around the church grounds and take pictures.

Yagura

Pagoda

Taiko

Buddha Statue

It's finally getting dark and the lantern ceremony is about to start.  So it's time to take the usual picture.  This time we are wearing lighter colors and it wasn't planned!  Great minds think alike!  I would go to the lantern ceremony but it's too crowded and plus we will miss the beginning of the dance.

I completely forgot about Maui Taiko's performance before the obon dance.  I guess we still have some time to relax before the mayhem ensues.  Got to take some last minute shots (pictures) because of this.

Every year, the dance area is crowded.  Earl invites me, Stacie and Nadine into the center ring, but we say "no thanks."  But after dancing the first dance....me and Stacie change our mind.  During the first dance, 炭鉱武士 (Tankou Bushi=Coalminer's Dance) we didn't move anywhere...That's how many people were in the dance area.

I don't really like being in the middle....especially during a Lahaina obon dance.  Sherman always throws curveballs at us when it comes to song selection.  There is no set list when it comes to him.  Plus we always know it will be an old song that we won't remember....only my cousin.

Among the chaos of the dance, time seemed to fly by quickly.  Sherman didn't play too many archaic dances. But he did announce the wrong dance.  We didn't know that 花火音頭 (Hanabi Ondo) sounded exactly like ありがとう音頭 (Arigato Ondo).  In the middle of 花火音頭, he announces "Oops, that wasn't 花火音頭, it was ありがとう音頭, sorry."

Our Sensei dancing with her son during "Beautiful Sunday"

How quickly everyone leaves the obon dance.  At least I get to talk to people I rarely see.  Plus I have a chance to take more pictures WITHOUT a group of people in them.












Enough talking...time to eat!  I am soooo hungry.  At least I know at this church I have food to eat!  Nishime, chicken, sashimi, salad, dessert!

The only bad thing about being in Lahaina....no after party for us.  Well we did go to Zippy's to hang out and saw other people from the obon dance having more desserts.  I guess you can call that an after party.

来週、パイア満徳寺 (Paia Mantokuji)....Time to visit the relatives!