IUJ (my university) Open Day 2009 was held last Saturday. As a member of the students association and of the European team, I was a bit busy, but it was really nice. But what is Open Day? It’s an event where cultural groups within the university (such as people from India, people from Vietname, …) and some groups from the local community present something to the locals. It can be a performance, cooking or both. European team was doing both although I did not perform. It is a very good chance to taste various cooking styles from all over the world. For Europe, we chose to make Crepes and French toasts, quite a success since our booth sales were the second biggest after Americas team (grr!! ). We were afraid that it might rain but in the end weather was just fine.

Let’s start with two videos I shot, kind of quick tour of Open day:

You can find more pictures by clicking here: Photos (select the open day album).

Finally, the only performance video I have (and only part of it) is Japanese taiko (drums):

I will try to find videos of the other performances, some were really awesome (Japan!).

On the 3rd of March, a famous event punctuating Urasa’s busy life every year was held. This is a 裸祭り, or Naked Man Festival. Concept is quite simple, participants just have to get naked. No actually you are just half-naked wearing some kind of traditional outfit, plus straw sandals (very easy to break by the way). It is about bringing big candles (around 40Kgs each) in front of the Temple, taking a cold bath and trying to see a buddha statue in a not very accessible lodge. The key here: pushing, pushing and pushing…