This time of year, any neighborhood of consequence in Japan has a festival at their local Shinto shrine. The neighborhood where Mako grew up in south Tokyo usually has their annual festival the first weekend in June, when we were still in Hitachi. But for some reason, it was switched to the second weekend.
Here are Tyler and Callie in front of the shrine gate. Leading up to the shrine are all sort of fun stalls selling food, toys, goldfish, cotton candy -- sort of like Japan's version of a county fair, but without the rides.
During a festival, neighborhood people take the local
kami (god, spirit, deity -- translations always fail) from the shrine on this portable shrine and carry it through the neighborhood. When we saw the shrine carriers resting, we went up to the shrine to look at it and take pictures, at which point they cheered and asked us to help them carry it. There's Ashley, Callie, Josh, and Corey in there bearing their share of the weight, which was considerable. This still picture doesn't convey how boisterous the heaving and hoeing was, as if the
kami were a jolly good fellow. This whole affair was more like a carnival than a religious event. I'm sure Japan has its share of pious folks, but they seem to lay low during a festival.
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