Germany in Japan.

Yesterday, DW and I got a little taste of German cultural flair at Fukuoka's annual Oktoberfest!  

The festival was held in Reisen Park, in downtown Fukuoka City, just off the hoppin' nightlife area of Nakasu-Kawabata.  We took a train into Tenjin, walked through the adjacent neighborhood until we reached the small park, and then, with a roaring gaijin battlecry of, "Hooray, sausages!" we entered the smoke-filled fray.

It was just like being back in Frankfurt, only with a bit more kanji.

We went with a few friends and neighbors from the jutaku (teachers' housing), who were almost as excited about the impending non-Japanese tastiness as we were.  Okay, no.  Hey.  Don't get me wrong, we love Japanese food, really... but we were pretty damned thrilled to see five kinds of near-black beer on tap and smoked sausages sizzling over a fire.  Like, I think I started drooling on sight.  Or crying.  I'm not sure.  But it was AWESOME.

So, yes.  Oktoberfest was full of delicious, delicious things.  There were 17 different brands of German beer available, which is pretty impressive in a country where ordering a beer at a restaurant usually means you get the choice of "beer in a bottle" or "beer in a glass," as well as a smorgasbord of sausages, pretzels, pastries, tasty-potato-things, and fried-cheesy-things.  There were even cheesy-fried-potato-things, which took me to a plane of food-induced-happiness I haven't experienced since my last visit to Wisconsin.

But I digress.  Here are some photos of our Oktoberfesting!

DW and his sausage. 
(aka, WR and her blackmail material.)

Friends, enjoying their Currywurst.

GERMAN STUFF!  (Except for the pizza.)

BEER!  Look!  It has COLOR!

Oh, delicious fried Ka-ma-n-be-ru.

One of the highlights of the evening was when the German band took the stage.  The singer really knew how to work the crowd, leading the audience in a variety of German drinking tunes and bantering between sets with enthusiastic chants of, "Nomimashitaka?  Nomimashitaka?  NOMIMASHOU!"  ("Did you drink?  Did you drink?  LET'S DRINK!")  To which, naturally, the Japanese crowd raised their glasses and chugged.

The band and the crowd.

Gloriously drunken dancing.

While we didn't get a video of their spirited rendition of the ever-traditional German song, "The Chicken Dance" (we were too busy twirling with the other drunken revelers), we did get a clip of one of  band's lively performances.  Enjoy!

That's the big focus for this week!  (I mean, how can you top such convivial footage, right?)  Keep scrolling to see more photos tidbits from our last two weeks in Japan.

Thanks, as always, for reading!  And don't forget to feed the fish!
WR

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FOOD.

 

DW made meatloaf!
YUMMM!

DW made Mexi-Chicken-Stuff!
YUMMM!

DW made fresh bread!  (Are you seeing a pattern?)
YUMMM!

(DW didn't make this one.)  We had incredible sashimi at
a very close and very delicious restaurant on Friday.

The kind waitress pouring more Nihon-shu.

STUDY.

While DW has been studying classes,
WR has been memorizing Manzai.

This is a magnet WR used in class for map directions.
It's supposed to look like DW.  Tee hee.

EXPLORATION.

A new neighborhood we found on the west
side of town.  "Look, Ichiran!"

Momochi beach on a lovely day.

Tinges of fall in the Dazaifu trees.

Just plain beautiful.