A Japanese Neighorhood Festival

People from the neighborhood enjoying the afternoon.

In Japan, "Matsuri" is a word you hear alot. It means "Festival". There are many festivals throughout the year, most have a religious background (the most silly one for a foreigner is the "Naked Festival" (Hadaka Matsuri) where the male participants are dressed only in a kind of Japanese style loincloth, in some kind of purification ceremony taking place at Shinto shrines). Occasionally there are secular festivals, such as a neighborhood's summer festival. Yesterday our neighborhood (Baraki) held one called "Baraki Natsu Matsuri (Baraki's Summer Festival).

Some people from our apartment building (including my dear hubbie who got up at 6:00AM for this) prepared a little booth with games for kids. There was a small pool of water for them to fish out little Superballs and plastic fish toys using a paddle that had a paper screen. Whatever they'd managed to get before the paper screen broke, they could keep. One of the other games was a golf game. The golf ball and numbered screen was made with velcro, so if they got the golf ball to stick on the screen, they won a prize. All the games cost a 100 yen coin (which is about one US dollar). I helped take the money and pass out the paddles to the kids for the Superball game. Some of the kids were so cute and polite (all were very polite actually). When I would tell them "Do your best" in Japanese, some would smile so big, they were so excited to play the game! Later on, while I was waiting in line for something to drink at the drink booth, one of the girls who had played the game, came up to me and gave me one of her big Superballs for a present. I thought that was so sweet of her!

People from other apartments and homes in the area were responsible for some of the other booths, entertainment, food, drinks, shave ice and operations, etc.

While there, we ate some delicious fresh BBQ'd corn (Ken's favorite) and some yummie Yakisoba (stir fried Japanese Soba noodles with cabbage and thin sliced pork).

Ken got a kind of famous soda for kids. This soda makes all Japanese think of being a kid and summertime. When I saw the bottle for the first time (years ago) I couldn't figure it out! The glass is pinched at the neck of the bottle and I couldn't see how to open it. Ken had to show me how. Turns out, there is a glass marble blocking the opening at the top by the pressure of the soda bubbles. Once you POP the marble down (by applying fast and hard pressure) the soda is opened and you can start drinking. The marble is held in the neck of the bottle where the glass is pinched narrow. The marble rattles around and makes noise as you continue to drink. It's all a bunch of fun for kids. The soda tastes like 7-Up kinda. It's just a basic sugar flavored soda water Ken tells me.

Besides food and games, there was a band that played music for a bit, some older folks in the neighborhood sang some "enka" songs on the karaoke machine and a group of ladies performed some hula dancing. It was rather surreal for me to be sitting there, in Japan, surrounded by all things Japanese whilst listening to Hawaiian music and a hula show going on!

Although I was not really so enthused to drag myself out in the heat to a silly little festival in the dirt and gravel, it was a nice late afternoon/evening and I so enjoyed the little kids at the Superball game. We even had a rainbow appear (very rare around here) which put a smile on everyone's face!

Maybe you could join our festival next year!

The little side road on the way to the festival entrance, all lined up with bicycles.

The entrance to the festival.

Me watching some of the kids play the Superball game.

A view of the velcro Golf Ball game

Hula ladies

A close up of the marble inside the soda bottle, this was a bottle that was already empty.

Ken's soda just after being opened.

How the top of the bottle looks after the marble has been released.

A Baraki rainbow!