Festivals & Fireworks

The Sunday evening heat did not set with the sun. Walking home from the station, my wife and I felt the humidity squeeze us. Sweat wrenched out of us like water from sponges. We moved slowly, shuffling almost, wordless and tired, towards our apartment. We knew that we had turned off the air conditioning before we left home that morning and that our living room would be something like August in Nairobi or Manila. I wondered if it was raining in the kitchen. Zombie-like, we lurched home. Suddenly, my wife said, “Eh? What’s that?? Can you hear that?" I stopped walking and raised my ear to listen. In the steamy night, I heard the sound of speaking and music. With curiosity, we followed the sound to the local elementary school, the voices growing and the smell of chicken filling the sticky air. Rounding the corner, we found ourselves at the entrance to the local O-bon festival.

In a moment our energy rose and we dove into the crowd of kids, families, old ladies, goldfish games, elastic tied balloons, yakitori grills, kakigori, and cotton candy. The drum at the top of the yagura counted the beat for the circle of elderly dancers and I kept time with the glug, glug, glug of my Kirin gulping. As we gnawed on pieces of grilled squid, we noticed that an hour had passed and we felt light, cool, and happy in the reddish lantern glow.

Summer festivals in Japan are, simply put, awesome! Whether they are the giant famous ones like Gujo Hachiman in Gifu that lasts until 5AM, Nebuta Matsuri in Aomori with its giant lantern floats, Gion Matsuri in Kyoto with its tall hoko spires, or little ones like you will find in your neighborhoods, they all serve to blow the heat away and allow us to elate and recreate ourselves. We can get together as one big group and dance together, as the Awa Odori chant says:

踊る阿呆に The dancers are fools
見る阿呆 The watchers are fools
同じ阿呆なら Both are fools alike
踊らな損、損 Why not dance?


Most foreign-born residents of Japan are initially fascinated by the spectacle of the big festivals. All of the sounds, colours, music and dancing are very new and it is exciting to see so many people moving and dancing together. If you have a chance, and know a great festival, I am sure our students of Japanese language would love to talk with you about it! Better yet, ask them to join you!

Some more festival information is here:

http://www.koenji-awaodori.com/
http://web-japan.org/atlas/festivals/festi_fr.html


Fireworks
The other great summer tradition of Japan is the almost weekly parade of Fireworks Festivals. Some of the largest displays in the country are in Tokyo. It seems like every weekend, we see yukata-clad couples catching the train to Yokohama or Sumidagawa or Tamagawa to sit under cascading explosions of coloured light. For a list of some fireworks displays, please look here:

http://gojapan.about.com/od/japanesefestivals/tp/tokyofireworksfestivals.htm

We will also be going to watch fireworks this year! On Saturday, August 21, We will get together to watch the Tamagawa Fireworks. Why not join us! You can meet us at the school, or meet up at Kuji station on the Nanbu Line. For more information, please ask We staff!

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