19 July 2009 Summer Festival, Daycare Style
Yesterday was the 納涼際, or summer festival, at Genbo and Zoe’s daycare. Amid the many things I find to complain about Japan, the yearly festivals are certainly something I find myself enjoying again and again. They manage to blend traditional celebration with basic good fun in a natural way that I like. This particular festival at the daycare involves the kids (most of them, anyway) getting dressed up, dancing, pulling a big 御神輿 (think Japanese, Shinto-based Ark-of-the-Covenant from Raiders of the Lost Ark and you aren’t too far off) around, and finally fireworks. Here are just a few pictures of Genbo and Zoe goofing off before all the official activities.
Genbo soon learned that…
To be continued…
1 comment in “Summer Festival, Daycare Style”
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:13 am
Nice “traditional garb” but please note Crocs don’t exactly complete the traditional look! :-) Was it really fireworks or did you mean sparklers? :-) Sorry, just missing the fun my older kids had in Japanese daycare. I’ll actually be taking my younger kids with me next week to Tokyo to my parents then head over to Osaka to work at the US Consulate for a week and a half. Let me know if you’re around!