strange and good day

Saturday still. I love typhoons (from a distance) and I also love the days after typhoons - the days of clouds and rain give way to wondrous blue sky full of white clouds and laundry can be hung outside again at last. No kendo today to follow yesterday, but good solo practice (ba gua jian, 64 hands, tai ji 48) when not being "taught" a kind of prancing sword dance by my daughter, who is more than a foot shorter than the ba gua sword.
Mid-day, she and I went to the tiny festival nearby in my sometime late night practice area, a small public area down the road. She played some games, we ate the usual fare, yaki-soba noodles and buttered potatoes. Later, neighborhood children made the rounds carrying the large omikoshi (check wikipedia and google) and that was quite a nice follow-up to the typhoon. Much practice later, I had worked up quite an appetite.
So I ran off to the next station (where I seldom go) and knew from the drum sounds that something good was up. All I wanted was a big mess of gyoza (pot stickers, jiaozi, dumplings, whatever). And I got them, along with a serious samba session. After missing them at the Mitaka festival while in Beijing this summer, I had unwittingly stumbled upon the samba team from somewhat nearby International Christian University. Musashi Sakai is known for its belly-painting festival, but there was much more being watched than the exposed bellies here.
I don't know how/why ICU has a samba team, but they have been making the rounds of festivals among more traditional Japanese style dancers over the past few years. Sorry, no samba pix, but guessing from the throngs of eager video camera wielding middle-aged men, you'll soon find something on Youtube. As for me, I think my gyooza are ready....