On May 4, 2019, Mr. Kazutaka Nakano, one of the supporters of Shukulu and Rodrigue, invited them and Dr. Godfrey Hampwaye to Kurayami Festival, the Japanese traditional festival at Fuchu city. Please visit here for more details about their experience at the Festival. Shukulu enjoyed her attendance at Japanese traditional event. She also enjoyed talking with Mr. Nakano with Japanese she has learnt so far. Here is her essay about his experience. in front of the exhibited Mikoshi Kurayami Festival took place May 3rd to 5th, 2019 at Tokyo, Fuchu City. I attended the festival on May 4 on the second day of the festival. I was with Icishatse Elie Rodrigue from Burundi and Godfrey Hampwaye from Zambia. Also, I was together with three Japanese, Midorikawa-san from African Studies Center - TUFS and Nakano-san together with his sister. Before we went to the shrine, were given the costumes for the festival by Nakano-san for free and it was a gift too. At first, we went to the shrine for sightseeing and see how people pray. On the road goes to shrine, there were a lot of street shops, where people sold different things especially food staff and many people were buying. It was so crowded. After we came from the shrine, we waited around two hours for the main event to take place, which was kind of parade. There were different groups which were doing different drum performances. The main purpose of drum performance was to purify the roads where the portable shrines are carried. The different groups were having different drum melody, dressing code in term of color and dance. It was really nice to see and hear the different melodies from different groups. Also apart from Japanese people, there were other foreigners who come to see the festival and there was someone from city hall in charge of the foreign tourists who was explaining about the festival in English. I like how they provided the Brochures in English to help the foreigners to understand about the Kurayami Festival. The most thing I like is the idea of taking gods from the shrine for one night rest. It was new to me but at the same time surprising as a foreigner. In general, the Kurayami Festival was a really nice experience for me. In the essence of learning about Japanese traditional culture. Again, I like how the young Japanese participated in the festival, this showed me that even if this Kurayami Festival is an old traditional practice of Japanese but still in this modern days is still very important to Japanese people regardless the age. I really, I appreciate how the old Japanese people integrated the Japenese Youth in performing the different rituals in this festival and shows that there is long sustainability for Kurayami Festival. This is good to keep for the country's history.I would like to finish this report by thanking everyone who contributed something so that I was able to attend the Kurayami Festival. Especially thanks to Nakano-san for his invitation and support. It was a great moment for me in term of learning but at the same time having fun.

On May 4, 2019, Godfrey was invited to Kurayami Festival, Japanese traditional festival at Fuchu city with Shukulu Murekatete and Rodrigue Icishatse, exchange students from PIASS. Mr. Kazutaka Nakano, one of the supporters of Shukulu and Rodrigue, invited them to the festival. Please visit here for more details about their experience at the festival. It was, of course, his first experience of Japanese festival, and he was enjoying the event so much. Here is his essay. Godfrey gathered attention from Japanese since he got much more taller with the headgear called Eboshi. The Kurayami Festival event took place from 3rd to 5th May 2019 at Fuchu in Tokyo. Shukulu Murekatete, Elie Rodrigue Icishatse and I were privileged to be invited to attend this festival on Saturday, the 4th of May 2019 with the facilitation of Ms. Natsuko Midorikawa. Upon arrival at Fuchu, we were warmly received by a Mr. Nakano and later his sister also joined. Mr. Nakano dressed us in the rightful attire for the event. We then proceeded to the main arena; the main Shrine where we paid homage. The second activity that followed was witnessing the sounding of huge drums which as we were made to understand was meant to purify the roads in readiness for the passage of portable shrines. Later in the evening, we participated in pulling one of the carriages, and this attracted many on lookers who wondered in the first place how Africans could be dressed in that manner, and secondly how we would even be evolved in pulling a carriage. Our presence as foreign visitors at the festival was also noticed by one of the organizers from the municipality who took time to explain to us the significance of the festival. She was happy that we participated in the event and took some pictures with us, and promised to upload them on their website. Eventually, we left the festival in the night around 09.00 PM after being treated to a sumptuous meal by Mr. Nakano. I would like to conclude by stating that this festival was an exciting event in terms of cultural diversity across the world and will keep the attire which was given to us. It was indeed a Saturday well spent. Furthermore, I would like to thank Natsuko Midorikawa and Mr. Nakano for the wonderful hospitality at the festival.

On May 4, 2019, Mr. Kazutaka Nakano, one of the supporters of Rodrigue and Shukulu, invite them and Dr. Godfrey Hampwaye to Kurayami Festival, the Japanese traditional festival at Fuchu city. Please visit here for more details about their experience at the Festival. Rodrigue, who always enjoys his life in Japan and talking with Japanese people as much as he can, was very excited to take part in the festival. He smiled at and talked to Japanese kids, and truly became the part of the festival. Here is his essay about his experience. He also enjoyed talking with Japanese kids while pulling the float called Dashi. Last Saturday, May 4th, together with Dr. Hampaye, Ms. Shukulu, and Ms. Midorikawa, I attended and participated in the Kurayami Festival. It was held near Fuchu City Hall. With no background in Japanese festivals, I was eager to see what constitutes one of them. In this short article, I am going to maintain some facts that amazed me the most. First, I was happy to hear that the big drum which is played for the purification of the road for gods came from Africa. I mean, its tree was imported from Cameroun according to what I heard from there. As a student from Africa, I get, once again, to see how, directly or indirectly, connected we are. Second, I liked the traditional music made of flute and drum which was performed. The flute is one of my favorite musical instruments. Moreover, I was surprised to see kids dancing on the melody of the music. After more than 7 months since I came to Japan, I haven't seen kids dancing. In fact, I was not even expecting to see kids taking part in such kind of event aside with adults. On my great surprise, they did. Last, together with his sister, I got an opportunity to meet Mr. Nakano, another person who donated for my stay in Japan. I thought, at the welcome party, I did see all of them but, in fact, I didn't. Mr. Nakano prepared specific clothes for us and we were able to join his group. I could see the amazement in the eyes of everyone who looked on us wearing the clothes and pulling out the high wheeled festival float. After the festival, Mr. Nakano offered the clothes to us as souvenirs. Actually, I was planning to buy a Japanese traditional cloth as a souvenir. Now, I have one already. That was good. As a sum up, with less than 3 months left before going back to my country and taking into consideration my participation in Kurayami Festival, I can now confirm that I've experienced Japanese lifestyle in general.

At Fuchu city, Tokyo, we have an annual festival called Kurayami Festival during Golden Week, from April 30 to May 6. The festival is held at Ohkunitama Shrine which is located near Fuchu Station, and people of the small shrines around the city come to worship mainly with portable shrines called Mikoshi, big drums called Taiko, and floats called Dashi. One of the supporters of Shukulu Murekatete and Rodrigue Icishatse, the exchange students from PIASS, invited them to the festival. His name is Mr. Kazutaka Nakano. Dr. Godfrey Hampwaye, our visiting professor from Zambia, also accompanied with them. Shukulu, Rodrigue, and Godfrey wrote essays about their experience. You can read them from the following. Shukulu's essay Rodrigue's essay Godfrey's essay Unfortunately, we didn't have Mikoshi event on May 4, but they could see the exhibited one. On May 4, it started raining very heavily an hour before our meeting time. It was also hailing and we could hear the rumbling of thunder. It stopped after about an hour, but the drum performance called Taiko-no-Kyoen was canceled. After meeting three of them, Mr. Nakano gave them festival costumes such as a coat Happi and a head gear Eboshi, and showed them how to wear. They looked very cool, and some people told them "Kakkoii (meaning cool in Japanese)" while they were walking around. Mr. Nakano told Shukulu to wear belt on her hip bone, but she responded laughingly that "it's difficult because African people have huge hips!" First, we went to Ohkunitama Shrine to worship. After walking through the approach with many stalls and full of people, Godfrey worship following English instruction of how to worship. Then, we watched the giant drum Taiko performance in front of the shrine. Usually, this performance is held by six taikos, but it was canceled because of the bad weather. However, Shukulu, Rodrigue, and Godfrey were enjoying it with Mr. Nakano's explanation about what the performance means. They were also amazed when they heard that the wood to be Taiko has been imported from Cameroon, although it is now forbidden due to the environmental problem. Godfrey shot some movies to show them to his family in Zambia. While walking around, Anika, an international hospitality staff member of the Fuchu City Hall, talked to them and gave them very detailed explanation about the festival and its events. They were satisfied since they could obtain basic knowledge about the festival. Anika's explanation was very helpful for me as Japanese too! View this post on Instagram Fuchu City Tourism／府中市経済観光課さん(@fuchu_tourism_official)がシェアした投稿 - 2019年 5月月8日午前2時12分PDT Their photo was posted on Instagram of Fuchu City Tourism. After we came across Mr. Nakano's sister and were treated to a dinner, we watched the parade of Dashi, the wodden floats from neighborhood associations within the city. On each Dashi, people played Japanese traditional music called Ohayashi, with Japanese flute called Shinobue and Taiko, and kids showed people original dance. Then, the special moment came. Mr. and Ms. Nakano invited them to join local people pulling Dashi. I believe they could experience the Japanese spirit through not just watching but being a part of the festival. They also enjoyed talking with local people, especially kids. We'd like to express our deepest gratitude to Mr. and Ms. Nakano for inviting them to the festival and giving them very special experiences that they could have only in Japan. Godfrey, Shukulu, Ms. and Mr. Nakano, and Rodrigue from left