Wednesday, July 23, 2009 | Posted by Jay
The Gion Festival is one of the three biggest festivals in Japan (and it's also held during the hottest time of the year ~ average of about 90F even without the sun). It actually lasts throughout the month of July, but the highlight of the festival is really around the night of the 16th. It's when everyone comes out to check out the sights.
You can see people in yukatas (Japanese informal version of the Kimono, and was originally worn as pajamas in the past), dozens of food stands, parades and traditional music...all night long (and it's a weekday no less!).
Gion Festival
Gion Festival
Gion Festival
Think of July 16th as Christmas Eve, and July 17th as Christmas Day. The next day, you get to see the traditional "floats" in daylight (they're not the modern floats like we see in the Rose Parade, but more like traditional wood-based 2-3 story carts with humongous wheels,
pulled by 14-24 people). There's a rather sexist tradition that says only guys can ride those things, because if girls ride it the float will collapse (bullshit -_-).
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wow, a real jap. festival huh? lucky!!
what does takoyaki taste like anyway...?
Hm...think barbecue sauce with mayo on top. Sounds horrible but it's really delicious ><.
Ah! I'm JEALOUS!!! It looks sooo pretty there!
I was looking through the photo gallery! Did you try the food in picture 21? Its DELICIOUS!!!
Oh! And did you try the fish catching like in 33? I heard its hard because the net can break!
I did try the takoyaki in picture 21 - to be honest I didn't like it at first, but after giving it another try I've grown addicted to the taste xp.
Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to try the fish-catching since I ran out of time, but I did get a chance to see others give it a try :). The net is actually a really really thin, frail piece of paper (a little stronger than tissues); but even so there are quite a few people who were able to catch some!