Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Summer Festival in Japan - Part 1

Dwiana my dearest friend, asked me to tell about summer in Japan. Well, summer in here is bloody hot, more hot than Indonesia. As I told you, for me it's like nightmare. But the good things, there is many event held during summer. The famous event is a traditional summer festival which called matsuri.

DSC_0020BS


******

Last weekend we went to my elder's son school which organized matsuri. As usual matsuri always fun with many stalls and games. They sold local food like takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yaki tori and kaki gori.

DSC_0019BS


I attend many matsuri here, but I just snapped some of them. Yes, because not just clicked a moment of matsuri but I should taking care my two kids, even though my husband always accompanying me, it was not easy doing two jobs at the same time. In my son school's matsuri I did't take many photos too, as usual we were just busy with the kids...oo myy.

DSC_0007BS


Matsuri (祭, Matsuri?) is the Japanese word for a festival or holiday. In Japan, festivals are usually sponsored by a local shrine or temple, though they can be secular.
Source : Wikipedia

DSC_0031BS


When matsuri, some people wear a traditional cloth called Yukata. It is like Kimono but in casual form with bright colors and flowers motif.

Yukata (浴衣, Yukata?) is a Japanese summer garment. People wearing yukata are a common sight at fireworks displays, bon-odori festivals, and other summer events. The yukata is a casual form of kimono that is also frequently worn after bathing at traditional Japanese inns. Though their use is not limited to after-bath wear, yukata literally means bath(ing) clothes.
Source : wikipedia

DSC_0002BS

You can find, a lot of stall at matsuri. Food, games and drinks's stall will be surrounding you. King gyou Suku or Goldfish Scooping is one of favorite game among other game in matsuri. Not just kid, but adults also enjoyed this game.

matsurisd2

Goldfish scooping (金魚すくい, 金魚掬い Kingyo-sukui?) is a Japanese traditional game in which a player scoops goldfish with a special scooper. It is also called, "Scooping goldfish", "Dipping for goldfish" or "Snatching goldfish". "Kingyo" means goldfish and "sukui" means scooping. Sometimes bouncy balls are substituted for goldfish.


DSC_0023BS

And also high school student participated in elemetary school's matsuri, they played music in a group.

matsurisd1


Because this August is became really hot, I should bring water bottle every time we went some places. But in matsuri, we can bought a famous kaki gori, it is pretty similar with es serut ( an Indonesia's name of ice).

DSC_0015BS


The seller crushed the ice cube then they put ice into plastic cup and poured with any kind of syrup.

matsurisd4


For one cup kaki gori we spent 100 Yen but the price is vary depend on places, it might be in other matsuri for 1 cup kaki gori we would spent 400 Yen.


DSC_0030BS


During the festival the place are crowded with paper lanterns because most of summer festival will be held until night . When night comes, you can enjoy the papers lanterns lighting up the area of festival. They are in a line with many color and written in kanji.

DSC_0055BS


Ok, we were bliss that we could to be part in Japanese traditional event and memory of this event will stay on for long time. See you in the next matsuri..!

15 comments:

Dwiana P said...

Very interesting view Elsye. Different than here of course. gw rindu lo liat hal2 tradisional kek gini.
Ini makanan "takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yaki tori and kaki mizu" bentuk ke kek opo toh?? hayoh ditodong gimana kalau lo bikin. tinggal kita2 yg nonton nantinya mau di contek or enggak itu resep:)
Happy matsuri!!

Yeni Yulinda said...

Seru nih say cerita summernya,sama nih di sini juga puanas banget..
tapi walaupun panas,I like summer.D

Photo lo kok ngga ada say,pakai baju tradisi jepang,pengen liat bow..

Foni said...

bagus ya sye, enak ada festival2 gini, keliatan tradisinya..jadi serasa di japon deh gue...
besok2 fotonya banyakin ya neng..

Unknown said...

ihhh lucu banget.....disini jg ada lho maen scoop ikan mas hehehe...tp ga ada yg pake kimono

look at those lil girls in their yukata! so adorable!...jadi inget baca komik2 jepang yang pake bahasa indo hehehehe

A.G said...

wah serunya yg dpt sumer panas..dsini ujan molo pk geluduk lg hiks :( summer its over now :((

Anonymous said...

Hi Elsye.....miss u much......
Ini festival apa, tanabata atau hina-matsuri (soktahu.com)..potona cakeeuubbb

Indonesia Eats said...

here, summer is also hot. 2 years ago even hotter, and I almost passed out on the street.

sefa firdaus said...

lucky you, we have a cold and rainy summer here in Bremen :(

one reason i learned Japanese long time ago was to speak fluent Japanese while wearing yukata, hihihihi

Ira Rodrigues said...

wew!! very interesting !!

Japan always putting forward their traditions to be great and wonderful traditional event like this, how lucky are you could be there to whitnes!
thx for sharing and attach plenty lovely pics

Judith said...

Senengnya liat festival sommer, cuaca cerah dan hangat, hhmm. Dan aku suka banget cari makanan enak di stand2 gitu, he he sasaran pertama ..

Lidia Sianturi said...

wow...as always, I like your shots..so colorful..
Dsini jg lagi panas2nya El...enjoy while it lasts!

Anonymous said...

suka aku kalo ada cerita2 begini, terus seru ngeliat warna-warninya Sye. kaki kori boleh dibilang frappe yah, spt yg ditulis di gelasnya :D

Nilmandra said...

How fun, that sounds like a Japanese festival in Vancouver that I went to recently!

Btw, I have an award for you over at my blog :)

Sheila said...

The colors are beautiful, El. Beruntung banget elo bisa jadi saksi sebuah festival yang masih berbau tradisional.
Dari dulu gue pengen banget motoin orang Jepang pake kimono. Tapi mana ada di tempat gue...huhuhu.

Elsye said...

to dwi : kekekekek iya makk emang asih boooww, loe kesini dong :D

to yeni : panas say disini, qiqiqi gue ga pake kimono :D

to foni ; sippp fon, tar gue banyakin fotonya :D...

to rita : he eh emang kiyuutt semuanya..sayang gue ga punya anak cewek qiqiiqiq

to ayin : wahhh asing donggg hujan mulu disini panasss ga abiss hikk

to ani : aniiii darlinngggg...bukan say itu summer festival, tanabata ada lagi :D

to peppy : wawww...pep, what a hoooottt summer day

to sefa : qiqiqiiq....but in here is reallllyy hott Fa, I can't stand with the wheater even sometimes we use AC :((((

to ira : you are mossttt welcome Ira, you must visit here someday :D

to mbak judith : samaaa mbak...hihihihi

to lidia : asikk dong Lid, bisa makan cincau :D

to mbak eliza : heheh iya bener kayak frappe kali yaa...ehh tapi aku salah tulis itu mestinya kaki gori :D

to nilamdra : I visited your blog today to read your post about the festival...wow, thanks for sharing nilamdra :D

btw, thankss for the award :D, I'm so honoured :D

to sheila : hihihi elo mesti kesini sayyy..:D