Pat's Blog

In last week’s blog, I looked at flamenco dancing in Sunport, one of the many events we have here in Takamatsu in summer.



The I-Pal Kagawa International Exchange Center is right in the heart of Takamatsu is a place to promote interest in international exchanges, things foreign, by both the city’s and prefectural divisions and meant to foster better relations with other countries and run through the auspices of the Kagawa Prefectural Government Department of international Affairs as a foundation. The numerous ‘foundations’ are somewhat of a legacy from the 70s~90s Bubble Era inasmuch as while still relevant and important, there are less of them now than there were in those days.



I dropped in to the I-Pal to see what was going on there during one of their “Kokusai Festa” (International Festival) events this month.



Compared with only a few years ago, things were pretty quiet as in the past the neighboring Chuo Park (Central Park) was full of marquees with foreign people selling foods from their home countries. It was always a fun event but has dramatically downsized within these last few years.



Harder economic times affect us all no doubt and this year the event has been split in to a smaller number of events divided through the summer months. Better? I cannot say … as a full-time staff at the I–Pal for many years I know the potential for improvement & success is as yet unfulfilled but without doubt, possible, if run with a proactive administration.




Both the city’s I-Pal and the prefecture’s I-Pal offices are in the same building. They have web sites, much useful information and need quite a bit of prodding by visitors to deliver the same. The web site’s information often shows events that have long finished but useful for a general reference.
http://www.i-pal.or.jp/en/



The event I saw on this occasion was to do with Chinese culture and there were some great musical performances.

I’ll be back soon and thanks for taking the time to read our blogs!

  

And summer it is indeed with sweltering heat right across the archipelago. And as if the heat wasn’t bad enough, the debate on whether to restart nuclear power stations is also causing the entire nation to get hot under the collar. Personally I think there’s no other choice but to abandon nuclear, that is the old variety that utilizes uranium and develop sensible LFTR (thorium) reactors developed long before uranium reactor, infinitely safer and abandoned only because the weapons industry couldn’t utilize them for plutonium. China has been quietly building thorium reactors and will be online soon. I’ve been saying this for years.



So while the politicians in Tokyo blame each other, deflect responsibilities, muddle and dither, we all need some respite from the sizzling heat and there’s nothing better than keeping an eye out for one of Takamatsu’s many music festivals in summer.



Sunport by the Inland Sea is just the place to be and watch some of these events put on by the city and last week there was a flamenco festival.



I know zilch about flamenco but I could tell these dancers knew plenty, and their passion, timing and performances were exciting and we all responded with loud cheers.



The information for these events around the city in summer, the Dome, etc. are usually posted in the local papers, available at the Sunport Tower’s Information counter on the ground floor or available from the Tourist Information Center near the Takamatsu JR rail station.



We’ll have the next Seto Uchi Art Festival next year and I’m looking forward to covering that again with Cathy. 2010 was a runaway success and exceeded our wildest expectations in terms of tourist numbers and quality of exhibits.

I’ll be back with more about summer stuff next week so until then, keep cool!