Follow me as I discover Kanagawa, Japan and beyond as a Navy wife.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Bon Odori Festival
Yesterday was the Bon Odori Festival. According to Wikipedia...
Obon(お盆?) or just Bon(盆?) is a Japanese Buddhist
custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist-Confucian
custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people
return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors'
graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the
household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500
years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon-Odori.
Yeah. We just enjoyed the festivities. The locals were invited on to base (which is not normal). A lot of the groups/commands had a food stand (we have got to figure out how to make the kabobs we got from the Philippine bbq stand!) and there were several singers in the afternoon, including Edwin McCain (think back to 8th grade, "I'll be your crying shoulder....I'll be the greatest fan of your life.") Later in the afternoon and through the evening, the Japanese did some sweet traditional drumming and dancing. I could write more about it, but I think the pictures and video are way better :-) *Bryan figured out how to switch my webpage back to English!*
Oh, and I can't forget to share that we found friends! Another couple that doesn't have kids yet! And they're fun!!!
Enjoy!
Me, Jimena and Sara: We were feeling very Asian.
Edwin McCain: "Thank you for inventing karaoke! It has added 15 years to my career!"
The drummers in black are Japanese, the ones in blue are kids who live here.
Students from Yokohama High School, about an hour away.
One group of ladies from the festival. They are so sweet and loved to have their picture taken!
Here's a video of the group dance:
There were several different groups of ladies, all wearing beautiful kimonos. So, so pretty!
I believe this is the Officer's Spouse Association, or some other group on base. Whatever it is, I'm joining so that I can wear one of these kimonos.
They come in all sizes! Gabby, Lizzy and Vanessa can expect one soon!
I don't know what he's doing with his hands, but he was really excited, so I did it too!
How adorable is she?? Her father agreed to let us take her picture. And just for the record, she flashed the peace sign all on her own. No encouraging, she just did it.
Well we haven't been anywhere to buy any mini-kimonos yet. But we'll work on it and send them, perhaps in time for Halloween! If not,then we'll buy a size up so that they can wear them next year!
Ooops on the 2 B's! I'm going to blame it on the jet-lag. We haven't bought any mini-kimonos yet, but hopefully before Halloween. If not, then we'll hold off until later next year.
Loooove the photos and hearing about how things are going. Glad Bryan got your all fixed up so you could post the pix and video! Congrats on the house too!! That sounded easier than when Bill and I started looking for our house!
Thanks! I'm so glad people are reading! Yeah, we definitely go lucky on the house. We went to see a different house and the landlord told us about another house he had available, which is how we heard about it. It was out of our price range but they were willing to drop it. I found out today that the local landlords charge us military folk double as much as every one else around since in our lease contracts it says that we can end our lease at any time due to deployment issues. So they're still making waaaay more money than they would if Japanese people rented it. We get to move in Friday, but honestly I'm not too excited about that since our stuff still won't be here for weeks. The military is going to drop off some furniture for us to rent for free, so that will help a ton. It's only 8:30pm, but I need to go to bed because we're getting up at 3:30 to hike Mt. Fuji! Ahhhh! So excited/intimidated! Tell Bill we said konichiwa!
Looks so fun! Glad you guys have already found some friends to do stuff with. And Lizzy can't wait for her little baby kimono!
ReplyDeleteWell we haven't been anywhere to buy any mini-kimonos yet. But we'll work on it and send them, perhaps in time for Halloween! If not,then we'll buy a size up so that they can wear them next year!
DeleteThe little girl is very cute and the festival looked like a fun time.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I only spell my daughters name with one B. Since it's you I'll let it slide.
Ooops on the 2 B's! I'm going to blame it on the jet-lag. We haven't bought any mini-kimonos yet, but hopefully before Halloween. If not, then we'll hold off until later next year.
DeleteGreat photos..Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI love your blog Cherie! I've added to my blog reader. :-)
ReplyDeleteJulie
Awe, thanks! I check out yours too! I need to learn how to get a blog reader...
DeleteLoooove the photos and hearing about how things are going. Glad Bryan got your all fixed up so you could post the pix and video! Congrats on the house too!! That sounded easier than when Bill and I started looking for our house!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm so glad people are reading! Yeah, we definitely go lucky on the house. We went to see a different house and the landlord told us about another house he had available, which is how we heard about it. It was out of our price range but they were willing to drop it. I found out today that the local landlords charge us military folk double as much as every one else around since in our lease contracts it says that we can end our lease at any time due to deployment issues. So they're still making waaaay more money than they would if Japanese people rented it. We get to move in Friday, but honestly I'm not too excited about that since our stuff still won't be here for weeks. The military is going to drop off some furniture for us to rent for free, so that will help a ton. It's only 8:30pm, but I need to go to bed because we're getting up at 3:30 to hike Mt. Fuji! Ahhhh! So excited/intimidated! Tell Bill we said konichiwa!
ReplyDelete