子どもの日

アデレードで最大の日本人フェスティバルにボランティアスタッフとして参加した。
I participated in a festival which is the biggest Japanese festival in Adelaide as a volunteer staff on the 3rd of May.

その名も子どもの日フェスティバル。
It is called "Kodomo no Hi Festival".

今年は5月3日が日曜だったので、日本と同じ日に祝った。
The third of May is Sunday this year, so we celebrated it at the same day to Japan.

日豪友好協会が主催しており、一般の人やボランティアスタッフも参加している。
Japan Australia Friendship Association organizes this festival. General people and volunteers support them.

茶道や書道、浴衣の試着コーナー、鉄道などの日本文化を紹介するブースや、寿司(と言っても巻き寿司)、おにぎり等の日本食を出してるお店があり、たくさんの人が訪れていた。
A lot of people came to this festival for experiences of Japanese culture such as Tea ceremony, Calligraphy, Wearing Yukata which is Japanese traditional clothes in summer, and Shinkansen which is Japanese superexpress. Some Japanese restaurants sold Sushi rolls, rice ball, and so on.

特に餅つきのイベントには大量の人が押し寄せていた。
Especially, many people were interesting in Mochi Tsuki which is to make a big rice cake with Kine and Usu.

そんな中、僕は折り紙コーナー。
I was in the Origami venue. Origami means folding papers to make various kinds of shapes such as animals, boxes, and so on.

こういう時に披露できる一芸を持っている人は羨ましいね（笑）
I really envy for everyone who can attract others by their specialties.

とは言っても折り紙も日本の文化で、特別な道具も必要なく、誰でも簡単に楽しめる。
However, Origami is a kind of Japanese culture. It does not need something special tools. This is why everyone can play easily.

子ども達だけでなく、大人もたくさん来た。
Not only kids and also adults came to our venue.

鶴はもちろん、手裏剣や星型の箱の折り方を教えた。
I taught them how to make crane as well as shuriken and star box. Shuriken is weapon used by Ninja to attack their enemies.

特にぴょんぴょん飛ぶカエルは、子どもたちの興味を引いた。
Especially, the jumping frog was attracted to kids.

しかし、折り紙とは言え、英語で教えるのは非常に難しい。
However, teaching how to make Origami is really difficult in English even it is easy for anyone.

飲み込みが早い子もいれば、すぐに投げ出す子もいた（笑）
Someone could manage to play quickly, someone gave it up quickly lol.

浴衣を着た小さい女の子たち、7人を同時に教えた時は悲鳴をあげそうになったが、楽しかった。
I really enjoyed teaching 7 girls who were wearing Yukata, but I actually wanted to cry. Because it was definitely difficult to supervise them at the same time.

日本の文化を紹介するのは素晴らしいことだが、いかに自分が何も知らないのか痛感することにもなっている。
It is beautiful to introduce Japanese culture, but it makes me realize that I am not really familiar with own culture.