Natsu Matsuri
[edit: SG's cut off a lot of the pictures. If you're using firefox, you may wanna right click and view image to see everything.]
Our local Mitsuwa market held their annual natsu matsuri (summer festival.) The first thing I saw was the end of the ramune drinking contest
The guy second from the left won a case of ramune.
Next up was a Karate demo from Shokotan Karate.
Here's a kid breaking boards.
This year the sensei didn't try to brake a baseball bat with his shins. He had one of his students do it and it took him TWO trys! OUCH!
There were also kid's games where it seems no matter what you did you got a little goldfish to take home.
Here's a picture of a cool Pikachu backpack. Yes, that's what I'm taking a picture of.
As usual they had stands selling stuff to eat: yakisoba, japanese style corndogs, curry, ramen, no takoyaki though. The big hit was the shaved ice and the yakitori. The crowds were hella big this year.
There was a drawing for gifts - the big prizes were 3 sets of tickets to Japan. I didn't win.
Afterwards the Taiko drummers took over. They were so good I even bought a CD.
The festival ended with the Bon Odori which is a dance to honor your ancestors - The Dance of the Dead. Essentially it's just people walking around in a big circle vaguely doing something that resembles dance.
The women on stage are demonstrating what people should be doing.
As usual, lots of fun.
Here's a link to last years post. I used a better camera then. I used the cheap one this year...
[edit: SG's cut off a lot of the pictures. If you're using firefox, you may wanna right click and view image to see everything.]
Our local Mitsuwa market held their annual natsu matsuri (summer festival.) The first thing I saw was the end of the ramune drinking contest
The guy second from the left won a case of ramune.
Next up was a Karate demo from Shokotan Karate.
Here's a kid breaking boards.
This year the sensei didn't try to brake a baseball bat with his shins. He had one of his students do it and it took him TWO trys! OUCH!
There were also kid's games where it seems no matter what you did you got a little goldfish to take home.
Here's a picture of a cool Pikachu backpack. Yes, that's what I'm taking a picture of.
As usual they had stands selling stuff to eat: yakisoba, japanese style corndogs, curry, ramen, no takoyaki though. The big hit was the shaved ice and the yakitori. The crowds were hella big this year.
There was a drawing for gifts - the big prizes were 3 sets of tickets to Japan. I didn't win.
Afterwards the Taiko drummers took over. They were so good I even bought a CD.The festival ended with the Bon Odori which is a dance to honor your ancestors - The Dance of the Dead. Essentially it's just people walking around in a big circle vaguely doing something that resembles dance.
The women on stage are demonstrating what people should be doing.
As usual, lots of fun.
Here's a link to last years post. I used a better camera then. I used the cheap one this year...