» Infes2011 at Kansai Gaidai – November 25th 2011 Shaylynn went Kansai

Infes2011 at Kansai Gaidai – November 25th 2011

There are often events at school which students participate in from time to time. Few of them seem to really affect the natural flow of campus life. Mostly the events happen on weekends, so I personally haven’t been to many. However, the Infes (International Festival) happened on campus during school days (and one holiday) seemed to be different. Also, their were many requests to participate at the booths. Many groups who were putting booths together or performances for people to enjoy during the festival were talking with people on campus, trying with all their might to get the international students involved.

I hadn’t realized how big this thing really was until the day of, when auto bikes filled up parking lots to the brim, where they were usually abandoned of anything whatsoever. Bikes were even more littered about the bike parking lots on campus so much that it was a real hassle if you had a later class. Trying to find a spot to set your bike would be close to impossible, next to shoving it in whatever small space you could find.

The first day of the festival was actually a holiday for students, I believe all students. Yet the campus was still full. I was there not just because it seemed interesting, but because I had been roped in by one of the booths that sounded very interesting and up my alley. I volunteered for the fashion show. The idea was that we would make an outfit that combined two different countries. Mostly it was one ryuugakusei (foreign student) to every nihonjin (Japanese). So that meant I had to combine America style and Japanese. What I came up with was a 1920s flapper look and gyaru style. My partner wanted American pop idol and geisha. So we decided to do both of our ideas in one and came up with something that trancended borders and time. It looked quite nice I think. At least it was fun.

Infes2011 Fashion Show Team

My partner and I's Flapper, Gyaru, Pop Idol, Geisha get-up.

At the festival there were tons of events just like the fashion show. There was a singing group, a kpop dance group, to just name a few. Even popular performers showed up for the campus festival. For example, a couple friends went to go see the performer Shimizu Shota. Apparantly, he’s a well-known J-R&B artist. I also heard that some comedians came to the event. On top of events, there were lots of different booths, selling different things. However, they were mostly they a tons of food booths. All kind of delicious foods like Yakisoba, Karaage, and many others. The big star of the festival, in terms of food, was Tempura Ice (Fried Ice cream). This delicious morsel was a soft bun with lava ice cream inside. They had a really great set-up with the number waiting system, and a great looking booth. They were all dressed up too. A majority of them looked like they were trying to imitate, “Where is Waldo?” Find the Waldos at Infes2011, get a delicious tempura ice.

Tempura Ice

Unfortunately, I wasn’t there until later in the 2nd day, because even though I went to school, I ended up having a field trip to a Japanese prison for my Peace class. But I heard that most of the actual student derived events had gone on the first day, during the holiday. Regardless. This little festival was one of the best things I’ve seen happen on campus this semester, and I’m really happy I was able to be a part of it. If you get a chance to come to Kansai Gaidai, definitely take your time to participate in the International Festival.

~ by Shaylynn on .