Japanese Required: A lot
At Yokiso, there's an annual international cultural exchange which involves a variety of different cultural performances that differs from year to year. When I went, there was a mix of Japanese and foreign people aside from my group of friends. The location was beautiful with many things worth viewing even without the cultural exchange. The first thing that we got to see was a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.
I enjoyed the ceremony a lot, and I ended up speaking with one of my Japanese friends quite a bit about the traditional ways of being a guest for a tea ceremony. He taught me a little bit of new information, but I knew most of the formalities already. After the tea was made, they served a small bowl of it to everyone. Along with the tea came some small sugar candies and a green tea rice cake filled with bean paste. The ceremony was pleasant, if surprisingly short.
After the ceremony, we got to watch a traditional Myanmar dance performed by two Japanese women. If I hadn't met one of the dancers on the way, I wouldn't have believed that they were actually Japanese. Their dancing was amazing, and I enjoyed the show the entire way through. It makes me a bit sad to think that the dancing changes from event to event, so I probably won't be able to see them again.
I would definitely recommend going to one of these cultural exchange events to anybody looking to spend some time in a very gorgeous environment. The entire event is hosted in Japanese, so going with someone who has done it before or understands Japanese would be a good idea. Overall, this was one of the best outings I have done in my time in Japan.
