Hana Matsuri

Which means flower festival, happened about one month ago but because of going to America and then the weekend after coming back, going to Tokyo, I haven't had much free time to work on photographs. Anyway, Hana Matsuri (to someone like me who doesn't really know Japanese culture so well...yes even after being here for almost a year there is A LOT to learn...) is pretty much the same thing as Hote Matsuri (which happened in March). It is basically a parade around the city where they are carrying numerous shrines including one main shrine that weighs more than a ton, which is temporarily housing G-d. Unlike Hote Matsuri, this festival fell on the weekend so I could spend the whole day following the parade.

The main shrine that weighs more than a ton...

OK, so to be honest, I just wrote this really long story about something that happened that day but as I was uploading photos my browser crashed and at the moment I am too lazy/annoyed to write it all again but I will give the cliff notes version.

Virtually everyone in Japan is Japanese so when people see a foreigner (especially white), unless you are in Tokyo or another big city (and sometimes even then) usually it is a big thing, Especially for little kids because sometimes I am the first white person they have seen in person. With little babies often you can tell if you are their first because they get this look in their eyes and will do almost anything to keep observing you.

So during the parade I was walking along the parade taking photos of some young girls all (above photo) and sure enough a few of them were giggling and waving to me and saying hello but I noticed one that had that even though she was about 4 or 5 she had that look that she had never seen a white person before. Soon I stopped walking to take photos of the next section of people but I realized that this one girl had stopped walking as well! As you can imagine in a parade if one person suddenly stops, this isn't a good thing!! The rest of the girls behind her crashed into her, but somehow they all managed not to fall; however, for a second there, I thought I was going to be responsible for a taking out a section of the parade! :-)

Anyway, check out the rest of the photos:

Apparently this is done for good luck!

Carrying it up the stairs