Ensoku

From Secondheaven

What's Ensoku, you ask? What are these festivals? Though when the actual game festivals and ensoku occur will be included in section 2, for now we'll just describe what these are and how they run in Japan, and also how we've chosen to run them at Second Heaven!

Ensoku

Literally translated, this means "far feet." For the sake of this RPG, we will call an Ensoku an "Excursion." Why?

The Mods simply believe that it's easier to translate the Japanese, and more respectful.

This is an event that happens every two months, where the students go out on a field trip. Have you ever seen tourist films of Japan with hoards of students at any particular location? This would be ensoku in action! The students are out in their uniform, and are kept up with their group. However, there are some cute things to note about ensoku - particularly, about the snacks.

According to Maiko Covington:

The first (and a big) part of ensoku is the preparation. On ensoku, you are supposed to bring your lunch (again, a cute plastic box full of rice and vegetables, or maybe some onigiri . On this day, everyone gets their mother to make a lunch they especially like), a thermos full of something to drink, and perhaps the most important thing, some 'okasi', or treats. Picking the okasi you will take is the major part of preparing for ensoku. See, the teacher sets some price, say 500 yen, and you have to stay under that limit. So, everyone tries to get the most candy possible for that price. On the day before an ensoku, the discount groceries are packed with people trying to get the most for their money. There is a certain way to pick what to take. First, you want to get something cheap and large and liked by everyone. Usually this ends up being some sort of chip. This is for trading. Then, you get some thing that you really like, and with the rest of the money you try to get as many small candies as possible. One option that is really popular is the 'hundred yen bag'. These are little bags that are 100 yen no matter how much candy you put in it. They are clear plastic, usually around 20 cm by 10 or so. So, you stretch this bag as much as possible before putting anything in it, and then as you put each item in, you press it as far as it can go into the corner of the bag, and generally cram it all in to save space. You have to be able to close the bag, which closes like a 'ziplock' bag. Sometimes the bag will break when you try to fill it, and then you have to start over. You don't have to pay for empty broken bags. When your bag is finally full to the way you want it, you go to the register hoping it won't break on the way there. The reason you go to a bargain grocery like Daiei or Maruetu is that at those places stuff that is usually 100 yen is usually 84 yen or so, and you can more for your 500 yen. The cheap places are usually well known to all and get really crowded.

The next thing you have to get is your thermos. The most popular things to bring are mugi-tya and 'carupisu', which is a sort of sweet carbonated milk drink. You know how to make tea, right? Well, the carupis is similar - it comes in a bottle of thick syrup to which you have to add water. For any drink you bring, you have to make it more 'koi' or thick than usual, because you put ice in it. Before drinking it, you shake it up well to mix it. All these thermos are like the lunch stuff I explained in the first post - cute, with pictures of anime characters and such on it. Lots of people pack all this stuff in cute little bags, also with anime characters on it.

Though we do not operate on yen, the snack rule will be in effect! The Excursion will be planned for areas around town of interest, or to the mountains surrounding the school! (See section 2.1.)

We look forward to you enjoying your Excursion with the rest of your classmates!