The Ogaki Water Festival
...written on 08.05.02, @ 2:42 p.m.
Mon August 5, 2002
Ogaki is known as the "City of Water" because three of Japan's major rivers converge here. As it states in the city's tourist brochure, "Ogaki is proud of its forty years of flood control" (of course, one of the last typhoons that went by a few weeks ago, broke some flood containers, but never mind, we're relatively safe.) So to celebrate the abundance of water, every year, Ogaki holds a "Water Festival". It was this past weekend and will even go on tonight.
I went Saturday and Sunday and had fun looking at the crowds. It was sweltering before the sun went down, but as the sun sunk below the crest of the mountains, a gentle breeze struck up as if on cue, making the heat and humidity somewhat more bearable.
What can you find at a Japanese festival? Many things, really, like lots of colorful decorations, booths and booths of carnival games, music and dancing and lots of food. Good festival food like octopus balls and squid on a stick. Many women and children wore traditional Japanese summer cotton yukatas with laquered sandals on their feet and fans stuck behind their backs in their obi sashes.
Anyway, I took some pictures and offer them below for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy! The little girl in the red yukata is my student, Saya and the man in the last picture is my sexy neighbor Obata-san. He was on a stage right outside my apartment and played some Japanese modern folk and rock songs with his friends.
Squid
chopped octopus
octopus balls
