Bon Odori

Bon odori (ぼん おどり) is a japanese festival held every summer as a reminder of the gratefulness one should feel towards one's ancestors. This was my first time going to bon odori. My friends have been to it almost every year since studying japanese at school. Because this is my last year in school studying japanese, I wanted to make the best out of it. So, I wore a yukata to bon odori. People are wondering what's the difference of it and kimono (generally known). Yukata is only worn during summer, made of cotton. Unlike kimono, yukata don't require socks. Yukata is so comfortable! I love it! It's like wearing ihram for pilgrimage, nothing underneath the yukata except my beautiful bare body. Yay. I'm sexy and i know it. A funny part during wearing yukata was a disguised police thought i was an illegal immigrant when i was at the subway buying train ticket. Haha. Back to bon odori, the main thing is the dance. There will musicians playing those huge drum and people will start dancing. The dance was in a circular motion. We put our hands up to the right, to the left, to the right and shake, to the left and shake, to the bottom right and shake, to the left and shake. Move forward, swing your arms and hey! Turn left, move forward, swing your arms and hey! Move backward, swing your hands and hey! Turn around and clap clap clap. Do the same thing until the drum stops. When it stopped, it started again and the process looped for about 2 hours. That's the bon dance. The food at the stadium was lovely. Low priced sushi and a bento container as a free gift. Lastly, there was a firework performance and the end.