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Again within the late noughties I used to be an everyday attendee on the varied festivals happening in Yoyogi Park and may bear in mind going to ones regarding the likes of Vietnam, India, Jamaica, Thailand, Brazil and Homosexual Pleasure. Nonetheless, it’s been properly over a decade since I went to 1. That modified on St. Patrick’s Day final weekend although once we went to one referred to as Inexperienced Eire Pageant 2024; the brand new identify for what was once generally known as the I Love Eire Pageant.
I used to be speaking final week to a Japanese trainer at certainly one of my faculties about St Patrick’s Day as she has to show sure calendar occasions to children doing the Eiken examination which is common on this nation (however not in lots of others!). She kindly gave me a load of St. Patrick’s Day stickers to present to my college students and mainly introduced the day itself to my consideration. A coincidence possibly however a couple of hours later this Tokyo-based pageant was promoted my means on social media. Huge Brother is at all times watching us I suppose!
Rina’s been eager for us to take our little Chihuahua out for prolonged walks on Sundays just lately. It’s for our profit too and in addition saves us doing two separate outings. With only a few concepts left in my head, I urged taking him to Yoyogi Park after which popping into see the Irish pageant for a bit sooner or later. She preferred the concept as she has lots of love for the nation having been to Cork for a homestay when she was a scholar. My very own travels to Eire over the 2000-2001 New 12 months weren’t as cultural, and positively not refined because it was only a consuming journey with some college mates!
What was stunning on our arrival in Yoyogi Park simply after the beginning time of 10:00 am was that the occasion was really in the primary a part of the park relatively than being tucked away on the outskirts as used to at all times be the case. Perhaps it is dependent upon the dimensions of the occasion however this location, close to the primary entrance, appeared much better for engaging the extra informal park goers unaware of the pageant beforehand.
It was a stunning sunny Sunday morning with the occasional large gusts of wind blowing by way of. It didn’t take too lengthy for the picture alternatives to reach as employees members offered me with a themed cardboard window to carry up. Alcohol is a serious a part of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations for many, and though I don’t drink anymore (15 months with out touching a drop now), it didn’t cease me from being pictured holding an enormous frothy cardboard beer!
I’ve been pretty adverse about St. Paddy’s Day up to now, significantly with regard to the consuming facet. It’d be straightforward to disregard these feedback from this put up in 2007 which have been pretty tongue-in-cheek however I type of stand by them. This yr although I simply determined to completely embrace the Irishness of all of it (cultural appropriation??) by listening to some Irish bands within the morning and carrying my previous rugby shirt. I definitely wasn’t the one plastic Paddy within the park as a couple of Japanese individuals had additionally donned the inexperienced jersey worn by the crew that had retained the Six Nations Championship within the early hours of that morning.
There have been tacky picture alternatives aplenty and I took benefit of most of them, significantly the Leprechaun ones. It was all good natured enjoyable however I can think about actual Irish individuals are wincing at such footage!
Some Tokyo-based British and Irish bars had stalls which have been in fact promoting Guiness in addition to whiskey and beer with the latter obtainable in a inexperienced color at a few of them.
In addition to food and drinks stalls, there have been additionally another stands selling Irish tradition, promoting merchandise or providing data on upcoming occasions such because the Riverdance twenty fifth Anniversary present which is coming to Japan in Could this yr.
Additionally current have been a few gamers and a few employees from NEC Inexperienced Rockets who I went to see play in Kashiwa final season. They’re now enjoying within the second tier of Japan’s rugby League and I’m undecided why they have been current relatively than one of many greater Tokyo groups however possibly it’s simply because they’ve the phrase inexperienced of their identify!
They’d some hands-on actions for the general public to check out reminiscent of throwing a rugby ball by way of three completely different sized holes. I managed to do two of them together with probably the most tough one. There was additionally the possibility to be a line-out member which concerned being lifted up very excessive by two guys able to obtain a ball. It actually was fairly a scary top. An enormous tackle-bag was additionally obtainable for these desirous to observe their diving tackles.
The 2 gamers readily available have been fly-half Ko Yoshimura and hooker Ren Osawa. I actually loved chatting to each of them, significantly the previous whose English is fairly good.
Reside conventional Irish music was naturally a staple of the day and pleasurable to observe and hearken to. What I wished to see was a Riverdance efficiency as again within the early 90s I used to be really fairly mesmerized by seeing Michael Flatley and Jean Butler dance to Invoice Whelan’s unbelievable music at Eurovision ’94. Sadly, the efficiency right here was fairly brief (below ten minutes) and so I missed about half of it!
The rationale for being absent for a part of it was that Rina wished some meals and so we spent some time trawling spherical the assorted stalls testing the assorted choices. After a lot thought, she lastly opted for bangers and mash. It might haven’t seemed a lot however it was all very tasty. Perhaps decreasing the plate dimension could be a good suggestion for the sellers so it doesn’t look so small!
Does that look value 1000 yen ($6.70)?!!
Our canine acquired fairly a little bit of consideration as is pretty regular on any stroll however that was nothing in comparison with another mutts that have been dressed up in Irish colors and costumes.
After a couple of hours within the park we headed again in direction of Harajuku station the place the Irish and Japan flags have been out on the streets prepared for the afternoon parade (the twenty ninth of its variety) happening on the street going to Omotesando the place round 1000 individuals have been anticipated to particpate. We have been by no means actually planning to see that and hadn’t anticipated getting as concerned as we did within the park festivities.
Bonus: We ended up in a restaurant referred to as Sakku Cha Sora (3-55-18 Sendagaya, Shibuya-ku) on the outskirts of Shibuya ward near Kita Sando station the place we had a late lunch consisting of soup, rice, greens and both a hamburg steak (me) or seaweed hen karaage (her!). Each have been actually good and the restaurant itself is a reasonably fashionable place with some very variety employees.
Little did I do know till we left however the restaurant was positioned within the Sunwell Gallery constructing which featured in ‘Tokyo Trendy Structure #10‘ simply over a yr in the past.
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