Solar Generation

May 5, 2007 - By Karla from SG Philippines

Every 5th of May, Japan is celebrating Children’s Day specifically Boy’s Day. But today, 6 women from different sides of the world made a stand and braved to make a change. This 5th of May was remarkable for the ADB (as it always is) since 6 delegates of Solar Generation representing Greenpeace International did an art performance.

We went all the way from the Grand Prince Hotel to the Kimono shop. We arrived a little late and the woman who owns the shop was waiting for us outside. Since then, she started talking and talking (all in Japanese) and didn’t even bother if we understand a thing or not. We chose kimonos of great colors and then started with the make up. Everybody was just so excited and had good laughs with our faces painted white.

It took almost an hour for one delegate to get dressed. And everything was just so tight, from the hair to the dress. You can neither be too full or too hungry. All preparations started at 11.30 and we haven’t eaten anything yet. So we satisfied ourselves with cookies and some sandwiches. We also made sure we wouldn’t have to go to the toilet because it would be very complicated.

The next processes went a bit quicker but not that much. We were dressed one by one and it took us 5 hours. We were supposed to leave by 3 but it was just so impossible. It was a lot more complicated when we were made to wear the wooden slippers. They were really painful to the sole and it was really difficult to walk with them. We had to walk really slowly and don’t know which is for the right foot and which is for the left foot.

We were done by 16.15 and we were waiting for the metro. Riding the metro was as well as complicated as getting dressed. We could hardly sit because we seem to have these hunchbacks. We also have to make sure we don’t stay so close to each other because our hair accessories were a problem. We had one common statement at the end of the day, “It’s not so good to be a geisha.”

Well, I guess all the back, feet, head, etcetera aches paid off. We deserved the attention people gave us. In one way or another, it was a very good strategy to express our message. “ADB QUIT COAL! CLEAN ENERGY NOW!”