Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Yabunelli, the Shiratsuka Summer Festival
Tonight was the eve of Yabunelli, the local Shiratsuka summer festival. There were lots of stalls set up around the local shrine selling junk food of all kinds, and lots of folks milling about. We had a light dinner, then donned our summer yukata and headed down. Afterwards, Samantha had her first fireworks experience. It was a lot of fun.
Saturday, July 07, 2012
Tanabata, the Star Festival
Tanabata, the Star Festival
We dressed Samantha up in her summer kimono and took her to the river for the Tanabata festival. The link above refers to the wikipedia entry for Tanabata, which is fascinating but a bit long. The short version is that kids in Japan decorate a sprig of bamboo with slips of paper upon which they write wishes. On July 7th, tradition is to take those sprigs of bamboo and toss them in the nearest river. A whole festival is built up around this tradition, and we waded right in. There was dinner with Grandma, Jiji, Hitoshi Yuri and Risa, and of course Backy and Minouri. Then there was a visit to Daimon Kannon, and a photo op in a bamboo glade. Much fun was had by all.
We dressed Samantha up in her summer kimono and took her to the river for the Tanabata festival. The link above refers to the wikipedia entry for Tanabata, which is fascinating but a bit long. The short version is that kids in Japan decorate a sprig of bamboo with slips of paper upon which they write wishes. On July 7th, tradition is to take those sprigs of bamboo and toss them in the nearest river. A whole festival is built up around this tradition, and we waded right in. There was dinner with Grandma, Jiji, Hitoshi Yuri and Risa, and of course Backy and Minouri. Then there was a visit to Daimon Kannon, and a photo op in a bamboo glade. Much fun was had by all.
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