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This is a picture of my brother. It was taken last year in Japan when the family came to visit for my wedding. It was timed so that it coincided with the danjiri festival in Kishiwada.

I really like this photo. I like the contrast between the signs in the back and the figure in the foreground.

Hello and a Happy 2008 to you all. I’m back from an extended holiday in Oita in Kyushu. We were supposed to stay in a cottage in the middle of nowhere but got caught in a snowstorm with balding city tyres on our car and called out JAF (the Japanese Automobile Federation) to put chains on our tyres to save us.

Instead of that, we stayed at an onsen hotel. The hot spring water was excellent and we had a great time in the snow.

On New Years Eve we went to a local shrine at midnight where we ate zenzai which is a kind of Japanese sweet dish. After that I helped make mochi by pounding rice with a large hammer. The speed kept on increasing and as I was a little drunk by then it got very difficult to do. Here is a video of people making mochi. Wait until the end where it gets really dangerous.

It was great to do all of that. I had wanted to go to a shrine on New Year’s Eve every year I’ve been here but was never able to until now. I’m happy I could do it on my last chance.

Here’s another picture from the Nakamozu Futon Daiku. Young boys with heavy make-up on ride in the floats carried by the faithful.

This is a picture of the Futon Daiko festival in Nakamozu. In this the participants carry a heavy wooden float into a shrine, up a large set of steps and then parade around and rock the float as if it were a ship in stormy waters.

It’s a very exuberant festival. Lots of noise, a constant bang from the drum inside and as a finale, the man on top of the float throws paper pieces into the air. I expect this is to pray for a good harvest.

Because the float is so heavy (not to mention the weight of the people inside) the participants have to change pretty rapidly. Between breaks they douse themselves in water to cool down.

It`s highly entertaining to watch.

Today is the Harvest Moon where people in Japan drink sake and read haiku (5-7-5) they’ve composed under the moonlight.

I on the other hand stayed at home, drank a beer and came up with this:

September full moon
Summertime has now ended
About bloody time

Any other offerings?

Yesterday was the event of the Perfect Liberty Fireworks in Osaka. This is the largest firework display in the world with over 100,000 fireworks in the course of an hour. It`s held every year on August 1st and this is my third time it`s been on since I`ve been here. And the third time I`ve missed it.

100,000 fireworks in an hour sounds like something I`d have to be crazy to miss. They are about a half hour ride from my house and so loud I can hear them from there as well as see what isn`t blocked out by the hills.

100,000 fireworks also make a lot of noise. I haven`t been these three times thanks to (a) my family in-law`s desire to eat rather than watch 100,000 fireworks in an hour, (b) pure ignorance that there would be (I`m not sure if I mentioned it) 100,000 fireworks in an hour and this year (c) the new-found responsibilities of fatherhood.

There`s lots of these once-a-year festivals and events. On August 16th there is a festival in Kyoto called the Daimonji. I haven`t been though I`ve wanted to each time. It`s described here (thanks to Kansai Time Out:

“A fire is lit on Mt. Nyoigatake to form the Chinese character dai meaning large. This spectacular sight measures 250×510x408 feet.”

The ones I have been to have proven to be highlights of my stay here in Japan. The Kishiwada Danjiri festival where the townspeople get drunk and pull ornate wooden floats around at speed with men dancing on top of them is one of them as is the Tenjin Matsuri - one of the large festivals in Osaka.

However long you stay in a foreign country, there`s a limited amount of these windows of oportunities - the chances you get to view and participate in these unique celebrations and rituals. But seeing them all would take a Herculean effort and, to an extent, if you`ve seen one haven`t you seen them all?

I side with sushicam.com`s opinion:

Something different, but just as valuable to me.

A new experience.

A little bit deeper insight into this place that I now call home. Peeling back yet another thin layer of that onion to see what lies beneath.

Let’s hope I never get to the middle of that onion…

It`s Golden Week in Japan here. A week where most people are off thanks to numerous national holidays conveniently placed next to each other.

I went to the Takatsuki jazz festival yesterday with Reiko and another expat and his wife and had a really good time.

There were 40 different locations in the city where people were playing jazz - in cafes, school grounds, parks and even in buses.

The weather was in the mid 20`s and it reminded me of summer back in England. And yes I felt pangs of homesickness. We sat in a park (which even miraculously for Osaka had grass) and drank beer, played frisbee and chatted.

Of course no Jazz festival would be complete without some Okinawan music (?) and the participants in the photo above gladly provided it.

Okinawan music is very hypnotic and especially so when accompanied by dancing drummers. Ok I was a bit drunk. All in all we had a good time.

I went to the Ebisu festival a couple of weeks ago. This is a festival held in Imamiya in Osaka. Ebisu is the God of Luck and Merchants and you are given bamboo stalks for good luck as shown in the picture above. These are free but you are expected to adorn them with the trinkets like the fish and the other objects hanging from it to enhance the luck. These items go for 1000 Yen each (which is about five pounds or ten dollars.) You put them in your place of business for the year and if all goes well it`ll have good fortune. When the next festival comes around a year later, you bring back the shoot and trinkets to be burned and get a new stalk and trinkets to replace them.

Tags: Japan, Osaka, Asia, Quaisi, Kansai, Expat, English, Ebisu

Those wishing to read about traditional Japanese New Year customs and the like and who find them lacking here should go visit the excellent blue lotus blog who has three good posts up at the moment about it.

Two about New Year`s decorations and another about New Year Postcard`s

I on the other hand am at home this New Year neutralising my brain cells with alcohol instead of outside neutralising brain cells with alcohol. There are two programs on at the moment, each on different channels, providing a steady stream of traditional Japanese folk and modern pop songs which all seem to follow the same format. There`s four hours until 2006 and there seems to be no end in sight for the singing.

Tags: Japan, Osaka, Asia, Quaisi, Kansai, Expat, English, New Year, Japanese

Japundit has an interesting article on the Jidai Matsuri held in Kyoto on Nov. 29.

Every year on Oct. 22, the city of Kyoto celebrates its long history with the Jidai Matsuri — “Festival of the Ages” — a long procession of participants dressed in the various fashions of Japanese history. The festival was created in 1895 to mark the 1,100 anniversary of the founding of Kyoto as Japan’s imperial capital.

Technorati Tags: Japan, Kyoto, Asia, Quaisi, Kansai, Expat, English