Blizzardboy | A Kiwi in Japan

Last night we went to the Karakasa Festival, a local festival which was held up the hill from where we live. It was an interesting evening, with fireworks and some dances performed a-la Milli Vanilla by old ladies in kimonos to traditional songs.

I had a look on Wikipedia for information about the Karakasa Festival. What I found wasn’t specifically related to the festival, but interesting nonetheless:

Karakasa (唐傘, Karakasa - “Chinese umbrella”), or Kasa Obake, are a type of Tsukumogami, a form of Japanese Spirit that originate from objects reaching their 100th year of existence, thus becoming animate. Karakasa in particular are Spirits of Parasols (umbrellas) that reach the century milestone. They are typically portrayed with one eye, a long tongue protruding from an open mouth, and a single foot, generally wearing a geta.

There were fireworks, beautiful fireworks, and the most famous of the fireworks was what looked like a cross between a catherine wheel and a may pole. This was several meters tall and a number of photographers had gathered hours before it was scheduled to be let off with their tripods lined up much as at a rugby match.

It was a nice festival for there weren’t that many people, but there were all the normal stalls selling things like octopus balls, goldfish scooping stands, chocolate coated bananas and candy floss. And it was certainly hot - even in the evening in the low 30’s, so it really felt like Japanese summer. There were quite a few police in attendance - probably a heightened terror alert to combat the old ladies who had one too many glasses of wine after dinner.

There was a big thunder storm earlier in the evening, and it seemed like there was a conversation going on between the thunder and the fireworks. And we had a little earthquake during the night (and another smaller one this morning). Not as bad as the quake near Lima this morning though.

37 degrees today here, so we wont be going far. I am not a big fan of air conditioning, but in this heat I wouldn’t be without it. One feels so sorry for the poor salarymen in Tokyo who have to stagger around under tie and jacket!

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