Matsuri

Spring is the season of festivals around Tokyo (which is roughly what matsuri translates into). And, since school hasn't started yet part of the way I'm keeping busy is by going to a few of these festivals. The first one I went to was called Hanami which translates into 'flower viewing' in English. This isn't necessarily a festival so much as a yearly tradition in Japan.

See, the sakuras are a big deal here in Japan. But, the blossoms are only on the trees for a few weeks. So, when the trees start to bloom, all these families and groups go out to areas where there are a bunch of sakura trees. Many lay down tarps at the base of the trees and spend the day eating a looking at the blossoms. A group of us went down to Ueno to see this in person.

Then, more recently, a group of us decided to go to the fertility festival. Let me set something straight real quick. The Japanese are crazy, they just hide it really well. It comes out only occasionally. Like, when they have a fertility festival, and all the girls go around wearing balloon penises around their waists. Oh yes, I am not making this up.

The festival started with a parade. In which a huge crowd of us got dragged along in the wake of these giant penis statues that were being carried around on a group of shoulders. We didn't follow the parade for very long because we didn't know where the giant group of people was going. Instead, we went back to the temple. There was some... interesting souvenirs being sold, but the group I was with refrained from buying any.

 

 

In the end, we decided it was safer not to eat the food offered at the fair. Instead we found a restaurant a few blocks away and ate yakisoba for lunch. I think it was a good call. 

And, school starts back up on the 12th, so I'll be keeping pretty busy soon!!