学泉祭 (gakusen school festival)

welcome to gakusen-sai, the annual school festival. it's a saturday and sunday where the school grounds turn into a festival frenzy - everything from food booths and music to a comedy show and crazy after party. this here is our pancake booth, which was organized by the students in one of our english classes. we didn't sell a whole lot, but someone thought it was great because we won an award that gave us 10000yen (about a hundred bucks). it was rather hilarious (though tiring) to yell out to passersby (pankeki! go-ju en dake! sugoi yasui da yo! mepuru shiropu wa ichiban oishi!), alongside all the other booth people, trying to sell our wares.
and what would a good party be without the booze. like the rest of japan (where beer can be bought in vending machines and convenience stores), see below how lax the drinking rules are. in that photo we are in to school yard watching music on the main stage. i guess they're sympathetic because there's no on-campus pub. actually, the 3 people in the foreground-left i met not long before this photo was taken, and are all graduates of aichi gakusen. we've had some good times together since. it's crazy how meeting people snowballs - you meet one, do something with them and meet more while doing so.....already the network expands.....