Gion Festival - Narita, Japan

kipnomad — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 08:45:00 GMT

A couple of World Nomads are back on the road. Nick Pound and myself are on the way to the annual Lonely Planet Conference in San Francisco and we thought we'd go a different route and drop in to Japan on the way through.

It was only a 24 hour stop over and we had all intentions to bullet train into Tokyo, but a funny thing happened on the way to the pub and we were convinced by the friendly towns folk to stick around for the Gion Festival.

Apparently the biggest festival in Narita, it is held along with the Dainichi-nyorai Festival of Shinsho-ji Temple which is a sight to see in itself.

Starting with the passage of mikoshi (portable shrine), ten floats from each area of the city are drawn around through it for three days. You get to stand on the side and see the most amazing array of traditionally dressed villagers drag large shrines, using 80 foot ropes, down the main street and past the temple.

At the major intersections they stop, pull out their fans and break out into a local song. I tried to find out from some of the locals what they were actually singing, but was waved away as obviously a smelly tourist, bit of a shame, but decided to capture it for all to enjoy on Youtube.

Gallery: Narita, Japan

kipnomad — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:40:00 GMT

Gion Festival

Put your hands up, Put your hands up for Oslo

kipnomad — Sun, 1 Jul 2007 18:50:00 GMT

OK,

So it's not a rocking city. More like visiting Canberra ( Australia's capital city) but adding culture and multiplying the cost of everything by 4.

We're here for the Global Ecotourism Conference and my colleague at World Nomads, Christy McCarthy is giving a speech on Footprints, our charity program. I'd come along to lend support and do a little business development on the side without causing an international incident by getting too drunk or giving the Queen of Norway ( who turned up on the first day) an inappropriate hug.

I'm not going to bore you with the conference details, suffice to say Christy rocked in her speech and overall it was a great event, full of insight, enlightenment and a great deal of discussion around the actual meaning of Ecotourism. It also came with a traditional Norwegian girls choir who sang what I never knew to be a traditional Norwegian song " One night in Bangkok". The sight of tweens gyrating to a song about South East Asian prostitution was possibly one of the bizzarest things I've ever seen at a conference. If you'd thrown in a narcoleptic presenter or perhaps dwarf throwing as evening entertainment, I would have sworn I'd be cast in a Spike Jonze film.

What I did get a chance to do however was visit the world renowned Vigelands Scuplture Park.

As Wikepedia describes it -

Vigeland Sculpture Park is a part of the Frogner Park, located in the district of Oslo called Frogner, west of the city centre.

Probably the most famous park in Norway, it was created by sculptor Gustav Vigeland between the years 1907 and 1942. Most of the sculptures date from the years 1926 to 1942.

The park has as its theme what could be called the "Human Condition." Most of the statues depict people engaging in various typically human pursuits, such as running, wrestling, dancing, hugging, holding hands and so on. However, Vigeland occasionally included some statues that are more abstract, and to some degree defy understanding. Such as the "Man attacked by Babies" statue, which shows an adult male, fighting off a horde of tiny babies.

One of the main attractions to the park is The Monolith (Monolitten). At over 14 meters tall, the column is covered with entwined human bodies and is carved out of a single block of stone.

Another well known sculpture is that of an angry young boy (Sinnataggen), located on the bridge of the park.

(Excuse the following artistic critique on a travel blog)

What I loved about these sculptures was their desire to engage the viewer. There were no hidden meanings, no self absorbed wank on the part of the artist to say " Look at my lump of concrete, it represents, errr...well...eerrrr..whatever"

I watched people walk around each piece and you could sense everyone made a connection with the art, regardless of cultural background. They resonated because they depicted what we all see and feel in our lives. Senses of love, family, frustration, joy, sadness, all portrayed through a simple gesture, stance or pose.

Just about every scuplture triggered a feeling inside me and that folks, is what art should be about. I love that fact that travel affords you the ability to not only engage with different cultures, but also the ability to see peoples lives through the eyes of local artists as well.

If you ever get to Oslo, be sure to give yourself a good 2-3 hours hours to roam around the park. Throw on an iPod, put on some introspective music ( I had some Keane & Josh Pyke ) and enjoy one of the most engaging collections of art you're ever likely to see.

Gallery: Oslo - Norway

kipnomad — Sun, 1 Jul 2007 09:41:00 GMT

Vigelands Park

Nomadic Noble

Gion Festival - Narita, Japan

Gallery: Narita, Japan

Put your hands up, Put your hands up for Oslo

Gallery: Oslo - Norway