The T-Shirt Makes Things Official

We dance through the routine, pause for constructive criticism, then dance the whole thing again. This has been the most fun part of Awa Odori practice so far as we fine-tune and develop the artistic flourishes. Hold the fan just so. Stretch your finders and arm into this elegant pose. Please sweep your arms straight across the horizon (dipping and scooping toward the ground gets the Japanese mini hand X). Don’t forget to smile! I saw a poster for the Yamato Awa Odori Festival along the Hikichigawa tonight. Only one more week!! Giddy excitement is building at practice every day. In the middle of practice today the girls’ boss came in to give the Americans pink festival t-shirts as a gesture of goodwill and kindness. Domo arigato gozaimasu!! That makes it official! We’re going to do this! We have our festival yukata and all the 20 bits and pieces that need to be hand-washed nightly after each performance, air-dried and ironed before the next day’s routine. We are flattening our taco hats. We’re breaking in our new geta. A Japanese newspaper asked some questions. The routine is polished—let’s dance! ps—my new t-shirt has a website printed on the back that led me to this map of the Yamato Station area. The orange might be the festival route! (Note: upon further investigation this map is just an orientation/driving directions to Yamato Station)