This blog entry is a little late in coming but I wanted to share some pictures of Girl's Day or Dolls Festival that I celebrated. Dolls Festival was on March 4th and the purpose of this day is to honor girls. When a woman gives birth to a daughter the mother is given a set of dolls that show the King, Queen, Princes, and Princesses of old Japan. They range in style and value but they all just show the royal family sitting around. Then on the day, you set them up and look at them, no playing with these dolls. Then you eat food and watch kids run amuck everywhere, at least that is what I did.
It was an interesting day for me because I got to hang out with one of my Japanese friends and meet her friends and their children. Watching the dynamics of the children was interesting as well. There were cousins at the party, a boy who was 3 and a girl who was 2. The 3 year old boy was bullying everyone younger than him. He stole a ball from a girl and then kept shoving his already wobbly 2 year old cousin. I thought the parents would discipline him for being bad but no one did anything. All they said was, gambatte (roughly translated as Good Luck). Even at 2 years old the parents are teaching their kids to fight their own battles. But at the same time they allowed bullying, which is a huge problem in Japan, even among adults! The whole day was interesting. I am not often around small children and after that day I am thankful for that!!
Enjoy the pictures!
The dolls.
This is my supervisor Naoko, my friend Miwa, and her niece.
The bully!
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