International Market Festival in Saitama ( 国際フェスティバル世界市 )

The jazz club at one of my schools performed at the International Market Festival in Saitama ( 国際フェスティバル世界市 ), near Saitama Super Arena..  The teacher in charge of the club invited me and gave me a flier with the time and place, but how to find the exact spot looked to be a bit of a challenge when I got there.  There were so many people there.  I looked for the Super Arena and found it packed, people lined up by the hundreds.  I was like Wow, this festival is huge, and what an experience it'll be for a group of high schoolers to perform for such a crowd.

 
I was kind of rushing around when I took these pics so I didn't notice that some people are smiling, making peace signs etc. for me.  I wish I'd known at the time; I would've waved or something.  More often than not, I feel like when I'm out taking pictures here (in Tokyo) a lot of people would rather not be in them, and I try to keep a certain distance so that they don't feel bothered.  Who knows, though--maybe I'm imagining a lot of that vibe.  Anyway, it was nice when I saw the photos on my computer, that there were some smiles and friendliness.

Well, it turns out that I was on the wrong side of the venue.  The Backstreet Boys were performing on this side, and that's why there were so many people.

To tell the truth, I didn't know that they were still together.  But hey, it looks like they're doing all right after all these years.  The crowd spanned a wide range of ages; when I talked about this at my high school, some of my students had wanted to go but didn't have the chance.

Finally I found the Festival.  It was nice.  A small but crowded event, some merchandise booths and, of course, food.

 After the jazz club, there were some dancers who came out with these canes and Mid-Eastern flavored music with phat beats.  It was pretty sexy.

And at the end of the night was the jazz club from Dokkyo University.  I don't listen to a lot of jazz, but I--we--were impressed.   Not only at their musicianship but also their stage presence. 

It'd been a while since I made my way to Saitama for anything.  Over the years I've heard a lot of jokes in Tokyo about how inaka (rural) Saitama is, compared to Tokyo. . .More than a few of my friends have used the word Dasaitama (a play on words, as dasai = cheesy, tacky) as a nickname, perhaps affectionately, although I don't know.  But anyway, I almost always like going out there.  It's a different vibe, a different atmosphere.  I can't explain succinctly what it is, but I think part of it has to do with there being a lot of families doing family things.     It's only a part of it, though.  I'll have to give it a bit more thought.

Anyway, it's a pretty nice area, near Saitama-Shintoshin Station ( さいたま新都心駅 ).  Quite a few restaurants and shops.