Day 52 - Waseda Sai

Hey everyone!

November 2nd was the first day of the Waseda Sai (Waseda festival).

As I mentioned in a previous post the Waseda Sai is the biggest university festival in Japan. It is a long standing tradition and is held every year. It certainly isn't the only event held by Waseda but it is the biggest one and it runs on for two days. 

There are lots of food stalls run by the students and performances by the different circles all around campus.

There were two main stages, the biggest was in front of the Okuma Auditorium and the smaller stage was near the Okuma statue. But there were tonnes of other performances going on around the campus.

The range of showcases was really wide. There were performances from accapella groups to dance and cheer leading. There were so many acts to see and they were all worked really hard to give performances that were at a surprisingly high level!

Here was a performance from one of Waseda's Cheerleading clubs. Yes, that's right, Waseda has quite a few Cheerleading circles!

Another performance from what I can only assume to be a muscle man circle? I think this is the same circle that was performing at the opening ceremony. Waseda may have lots of circle but I think even Waseda only has one muscle man group!

A rather peculiar circle if you ask me! But it's always good to have variety, no?

One of my favorite performances of the day was by the Shockers. Shockers is Waseda's male-only cheerleading circle. They did flips, jumps, formations and pyramids and all so enthusiastically! Not only were they talented but it was clear that they were really enjoying themselves. 

This was dancing circle that performed dances in the styles of various cultures. There were not only Japanese students in this circle but there were some exchange students too.

As you can see it was really hectic! There were so many people that had come to enjoy the festival. It seemed like a lot of the visitors were not from the university either. 

One of Waseda's dance circles

The stage in front of Waseda's clock tower

One performance I was looking forward to see was the W.U.B (Waseda University Breakerz) set. W.U.B is a dance circle that incorporates various styles of urban dance including breakdancing, hip-hop and reggae. They showcased each of their dance styles and it was really well done. There were so many people so it was just as well that there was a big screen because being as short as I am, it was hard to see everything!
Unfortunately I didn't manage to get many good photos of them so I am afraid I have only included these two!

Amy, Zoe and I went off to Waseda's Coop shop to buy some Waseda hoodies so we could show our Waseda spirit during the baseball match the next day. We couldn't resist the sweatpants either, so we managed to successfully empty our wallets at the Coop till.

I have to say the highlights of the performances was the Shockers and W.U.B the performances were done well and the cheerleaders and dancers were very impressive!

Overall it was a really fun day and I was left wishing that I could go to the second day of the Waseda Sai. However I had the Waseda-Keio baseball match to look forward to the next day.

Day 51 - All-you-can-eat and Karaoke, and the Waseda festival opening ceremony!

Hey everyone!

On November 1st Amy and I went to meet Meg for some good old face stuffing accompanied by all of our beautiful voices!

Yup that's right, we went to a tabehoudai (食べ放題) restaurant with karaoke!
Tabehoudai essentially means all-you-can-eat.

It was a really interesting restaurant. There were normal seating areas at the front but around the back of the restaurant there were individual karaoke rooms. We paid a set price for the karaoke room which included one main meal, nomihoudai (all-you-can-drink) and free access to the all-you-can-eat salad and chocolate fountain buffet. Yes, I said chocolate fountain!

I found Nemo!

Fishies!

They even had a fish tank with lots of tropical fish and a water feature in the center of the dining area

A rather cluttered plate of salad

The buffet had soups, salads, pastas, noodles and tofu. At the end of this was a chocolate fountain with various biscuits, wafers and sweets to dip in to the liquid gold!

The Karaoke room was a nice size, especially for only 3 people! It was also one of the nicest designed rooms I have been to so far since coming to Japan. The seats and walls were covered in a black leather-like cushioning which made it feel quite cosy. As usual there was a table in the center and the karaoke TV was in the corner of the room by the door. 

Locomoco

Meg and Amy both ordered a Locomoco. Locomoco is a Hawaiian dish which is quite popular in Japan. Of course, it being Japan there was a Japanese twist to it. A Locomoco usually consists of a hamburger patty, egg and a brown gravy resting on a bed of rice.

Luckily our table was big!

After the restaurant we went back to Waseda to catch the opening ceremony for the Waseda festival.

Every year Waseda holds a festival called Waseda Sai (Literally 'Waseda festival'). The Waseda Sai is the biggest university festival in Japan. But I will talk more about it in my next post.

All the preparations were being made for the festival that would be held the next day. There were barriers put up and some stages were erected for the entertainment acts.

As part of the opening ceremony there were some performances being held on one of the stages. There were already quite a lot of people there even though it was only the opening ceremony.

A rather curious muscle man act????

The real part of the opening ceremony however, was held in the Okuma Auditorium, which is in Waseda's characteristic clock tower building.

When we went in we were all given glow sticks! I LOVE glow sticks!! What's more is that they were blue- my favorite!

The glow sticks were for waving during the ceremony as a kind of cheering-on act!

So happy with my glow stick

Before the ceremony started

Lots of people came!

Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos or videos during the performance. And like a good student I obliged so I am afraid I don't have any shots of the performances. But you can take my word that they were fun.

If I remember correctly we all sang the Waseda song at the beginning, linking arms with the people next to us and swaying! You could really feel the Waseda spirit. People are truly proud of there universities here!

The acts were a variety of dance, music, magic and trick performances, I think there was even perhaps a little comedy? It was a good introduction to some of the performances that we would be able to see during the Waseda Sai. The performances are all carried out by Waseda circles (clubs), so all the performers were Waseda students.

It was a lot of fun and I really did feel happy to be a Waseda student! I feel like I have so much love for this university, I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to study here!

After the opening ceremony Kento had finished his practice for his performance at the Waseda Sai so he joined Amy, Meg and I for a chat in building 11's lounge area.

Meg had to go back to avoid missing the last train, so we said our goodbyes and then went to a nearby cafe for some drinks.

I had a really great day and the opening ceremony did its job of getting me pumped for the Waseda Sai the next day!