September 2, 2012

My Son's School Festival/息子の文化祭

Today, I went to the so-called "cultural festival" at my son's high school.
Note:  "School festival" (gakuen sai) is often called "cultural festival" (bunka sai) in Japan.
注: 日本では、学園祭はよく、文化祭とも呼ばれます。

今日は、息子の高校の、いわゆる「文化祭」に行ってきました。

At around 10:10, I had a pack of yakisoba for 200 yen.
10:10頃、焼きそばを食べました(200円)。
They named their yakisoba "Healthy Moyashi-y Oishii-y Yakisoba".
Moyashi = Bean sprouts
Oishii = Delicious
As the name suggested, it was a very healthy version!  It contained much more bean sprouts and other vegetables than I had anticipated.  My kind of yakisoba!!!
名前は「ヘルシーもやしーおいしーやきそば」です。
名前の通り、とても健康的な焼きそばでした!予想以上にもやしなどの野菜が入ってました。私好みの焼きそばです!!!

I also had curry and naan at Makai Shokudo (Devildom Restaurant) for 250 yen (if I remember correctly).
魔界食堂でカレーとナンを食べました(記憶が確かならば、250円)。.
You can have a choice between rice and naan.  The curry was not as spicy as I had anticipated, and I was glad about that.
ライスとナンのどちらかを選べます。カレーは思った程辛くなく、良かったです。 

Why do they call their restaurant Devildom Shokudo?
何で自分たちの食堂を魔界食堂と呼んでいるのでしょう?



Then, I had "hotteok" (filled Korean pancake) for 160 yen.  I also ordered a can of juice made in Korea for 100 yen (which I brought home to share with my family.)
ホトク(ホットク)(韓国の、餡入りのホットケーキ)も食べました(160円)。韓国製の缶ジュース(100円)も頼みましたが、家族みんなで飲めるよう家に持って帰りました。 
It wasn't spicy at all!  I had assumed that almost all Korean foods were spicy...
まったく辛くありませんでした。韓国の料理は殆ど全て辛いと思っていたのですが...。

Edited to add:  I later learned that hotteok is a sweet containing brown sugar, some kind of nut (such as peanut and walnut), and other ingredients.
追記: 後で、ホトクとは黒砂糖、ナッツ(ピーナッツやクルミなど)などが入ったお菓子だと知りました。


I wanted to buy some "curry pan", but I gave up because I knew that they would start selling for the second time at 12:00.
「カレーパン」を買いたかったのですが、次に売り出すのは12:00だと知り、諦めました。
Needless to say, foods are not the only things students offer at a "cultural festival".
言うまでもなく、「文化祭」で生徒たちが出すのは食べ物だけではありません。
This red brick front gate, built in 1916 (5th year of Taisho), is registered as a tangible cultural asset.
大正5年に建てられたこの赤レンガの正門は登録有形文化財です。

I dropped by this bakery, which is a stone's throw from the high school.
高校のすぐ近くにある、このパン屋さんに寄りました。
I had been interested in this bakery because they sell their products at the high school at lunchtime.  My son said some of them were good, and I had wanted to know how good their bread was.
このパン屋さんは昼時に高校でパンを売っているので、前から興味がありました。息子は美味しいパンもあるというので、どれくらいパンが美味しいのか、知りたいと思っていました。
I also dropped by this imported food shop, located in the station building.
また、駅ビルに入っている、この輸入食材の店にも行きました。 
This shop is where I previously bought some corn grits and jasmine rice, among others.  Today, I bought these:
この店は、以前、コーングリッツやジャスミンライスを買ったところです。今日はこんなものを買いました。  
And, here are the items I bought at the bakery.
そして、パン屋さんで買ったパン。
I bought a set of coffee cups at the flea market at the "cultural festival",
文化祭のフリーマーケットではコーヒーカップのセットを買い、
and I also bought this for my daughter.
娘にはこんなものを買いました。
The buns, shown above, which contained walnut and cream cheese were very tasty!  The loaf of bread, called Muku (Immaculate), was just incredible!  It is bread fresh from lava oven, and it contains no eggs, milk, sugar, or butter.  It's not as hard as French bread, and it has a very unique texture.  I love it!
上記の、クルミとクリームチーズの入ったパンはとても美味しかったです!無垢(むく)という名の食パンはすごいです!溶岩釜出し食パンで、卵、牛乳、砂糖、バターが入っていません。フランスパンのように固くなく、とてもユニークな食感です。とてもいいです!
The label also says, "Kazari no nai oishisa" (deliciousness with no decorations).  That says it all.
ラベルには、こうも書いてあります:「飾りのないおいしさ」。まったくその通りです。

8 comments:

Fräulein Trude said...

Reminds me a little on the school festivals of our son. But they did not provide so many different things to eat, more events as: theatre, chorus, music bands, sports and games. Flea market and food sales (mostly hot wafers, sausages and potatoe salad, soft drinks) were meant to collect funds for new sport equipment and such.
Baumkuchen... I know this (laugh). Last strange (imported) soft drink I bought was a chrysanthemum lemonade from Taiwan, very nice.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Other foods offered there include pasta, waffles (imported from Holland), floats(?), and shaved ice. Of course, some classes offered the events you mentioned. My son's class, for instance, offered a play, chorus, a magic show, and quizzes.

Fräulein Trude said...

Sorry wafers, waffle is the correct term. Made tons of batter and lent our waffle iron?/maker to the class for hot waffles with cherry compote and cream. But what are floats - something like floating islands: creamy custard with meringue? Magic show sounds nice. Remembering my highschool (Gymnasium) I always had to do chorus and theatre plays and fencing (lots of self sewed costumes involved) amd art displays. I once built the castle Neuschwanstein out of matchsticks and burned the whole thing at the end of the festival and therefor got in trouble with the teachers (laugh). I forgot almost everything about it but now I remembered - it burned very well.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Usually, a float is a cup of some beverage like coffee with some ice cream floating on it, or it may be shaved ice with some ice cream on top of it.
I'm not sure what they meant by float. I wanted to try it, but when I arrived at their classroom, I found it was temporarily closed.

If you want to see the curry pan, waffles, and pasta they offered at the festival, here is a link:
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/tachibanasangyo/e/6fea19f19c8c9936dcdf83047fa6b93f

Castle out of matchsticks?? You must have been a very artistic and imaginative schoolgirl!

Fräulein Trude said...

Thanks for the link. They got a huge variety of food, amazing. Did they - pupils - prepare it by themselfs in home economic rooms or did they buy? Just curious. During my times as fully fledged mom we had to HELP means make not buy.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: I think that except the waffles, they made them by themselves, on the spot, not necessarily in the home economic room, I suppose (laugh). The hotteok, for instance, was made in the same classroom as we had it, using several hot plates. The yakisoba was made in the adjacent room.

Ruminating Roy said...

Hotteok is pretty popular in parts of Texas that are closer to large army bases. The sizable Korean-American population tends to have their children share them with the other kids at school. I'm glad the students had such a successful festival this time around.

From what I've seen traveling around the US, a "float" in America seems to mean a carbonated soft drink (most of the time cola flavored) topped with a large scoop of ice cream, at least as far on the mainland goes. I'm betting I'd rather have the kind you were describing to Kiki.

I'm curious to find out what your opinion of the prunes you bought will be.

Hiroyuki said...

Ruminating Roy: Thanks for your description of hotteok and float.

The prunes were very good! And, the price was reasonable (220 g bag, 197 yen).

Kiki: I forgot to mention that the curry pan was a collaboration between the high school and the bakery (MARCHAN), so I supposed that it was made at the bakery.