Japanese Summer

How I love the summers in Japan. From the festivals to the fireworks, I think summer is Japan's most festive season. Some Japanese think that fireworks were invented in Japan. There is certainly a different culture around fireworks here. There will be fireworks just to celebrate summer. and throughout the year just for fun. people dress up in traditional garb and come out to "eww and ahhh", only they cheer instead. This year I taught my Japanese friends the way to "eww" as the fireworks shoot up and "ahh" as they come down. They loved it!

This is when you say "EWWW"

This is when you say "AHHH"

For the first time this year I put on my
summer kimono and tied the obi all by myself!

Also for the first time this year I participated in a festival. People from my workplace formed a team of dancers. The festival was a paper lantern festival, but the paper lanterns are huge!! It takes a lot of men and power to turn them around and around in one direction and then the other. The dancers dance down the street, then the papers lanterns are twirled around and this repeats up and down the two major cross roads of the city. Check out the pictures to get a better idea.

Me before the action!
Holding the official camera pose, the peace sign.
Im rocking the double peace sign.

First the teams of dancers and lantern twirlers
gather in a parking lot with the lanterns surrounding us.

This is the areal view of the gathering.
That tall building in the background is where I work.

The twirlers in action. Since I was part of the action I didnt get any pictures. These are contest winning pictures from last year. The team above is the team from my workplace last year.

More twirlers in action. Their garb is some kind of traditional festival wear.