浦高祭 - Urawa Koukou Matsuri

The plan was to leave by 9:30 AM. But with everyone still groggy from the party the night before, we all left at noon right after 12. Outside it was egg-frying hot, but it was perfect for a Summer's Sunday. With the sun way up to melt all the eye bags accumulated with late-night partying.

I have received a pamphlet with an invitation for a high school festival several days ago, and it was with this that I dragged my friends to attend with me. Some were reluctant, but after showing them photos of previous festivals and explaining what it was really about, no one wanted to get left behind. It was just something you shouldn't miss while in Japan.

We did our best to immortalize the map on our heads, but I guess we didn't have to. The moment we got off into the train station, crowds of students wearing different uniforms were massing together and marching out towards a single destination: the Urawa High School Festival. With a laugh of relief, we decided to go with the flow. Actually, even without the students, you wouldn't get lost. From the station to the school, banners were put up leading you to the festival. But walking alongside excited chatterings and giddy-ness only heightened the experience.

The school's gate was exploding with celebration by itself, and beyond it was another gate. Only, this is made by the students and was likened to a Japanese castle with gabled roofs with dark tiles and white walls. It was huge, and passing beneath it gave me the feeling of awe and admiration at how much work these students put on making it.

We were given a booklet with lots of Japanese paragraphs in it. But thankfully, there were pictures splattered all over, so it wasn't that hard to figure out what was being described. Each classroom holds a different activity ranging from coffee shops, pizza parlors, to mini-casinos, daycare centers, and the infamous horror houses. There was a map of the school grounds' floor plan and a legend describing on how to use it, but we didn't understood it that much.

From what we could read though, only 3 buildings and the campus grounds itself were used for the festival: the central wing (where the classrooms are), the east wing (where the school facilities are) and the gymnasium. Other buildings where off limits, probably because the faculty rooms and other administrative offices are located there. We didn't even tried to peek inside, we assumed it'd be boring anyways.

The whole place was packed, with a girl/boy ratio of 5:2. The visitors were mostly girls from other schools, probably because of the fact that this is an all-boys institution. Everyone looked happy, so I guess the guys really did a good job. A lot of people were lining up outside the classrooms so much, that we only managed to go inside a couple of them: an aquarium attraction and a solitary tea house on the top floor.

The aquarium was hot and stuffy, but the tea house was an oasis. We've been walking for a couple of hours now, so having a break at a cozy classroom occupied only by a handful of students was so relaxing, we even considered the thought of spending the whole day inside it. An occassional visit from a customer, the tinkling of a wind chime on a Summer's breeze, and a sip of milk tea gives off such a believable atmosphere you'd think you're inside a cafe on a secluded beach. That is, until their supplies ran out and students began to come in just to 'hang out'.

By that time, we decided we needed our overly-late lunch and set off towards the least crowded place where we can get it: the school cafeteria. Because everyone was eating their lunch inside the food-themed classrooms, the cafeteria was empty save for the cashier and a few ladies cooking noodles and curry at the kitchens. The food available was just that: noodles and curry. And because it was a school, it was fairly cheap; compared to the doubled price of a regular bowl of udon or a plate of curry sold outside.

We watched some dancing guys cosplaying, a robot war, and a cart race afterwards. We were quite tired by that point, so we decided that it's time to leave. It was so much fun and it's too bad we hadn't been able to try the horror houses, next year perhaps?

Besides, the sun hadn't gone down yet and we have another place to go to before it does: Namjatown.

I'll save that for another story.