Awa Odori is a traditional dance festival originating in Tokushima City in 1586, when Lord Hachisuka Iemasa of Awa, the former name of Tokushima prefecture, hosted a celebration of the opening of Tokushima Castle.

“The locals, having consumed a great amount of sake, began to drunkenly weave and stumble back and forth. Others picked up commonly available musical instruments and began to play a simple, rhythmic song, to which the revellers invented lyrics.” (Wikipedia)

Awa Odori is believed to be the largest dance festival in Japan which attracts over a million tourists every year. Because of its popularity, other cities started to hold their own Awa Odori.

This year, I’d been to three Awa Odori festivals: (1) Kagurazaka in Tokyo, (2) Yamato City in Kanagawa, and (3) Koenji in Tokyo.

(1) Kagurazaka, Tokyo | 24th July2010

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(2) Yamato, Kanagawa | 25th July 2010

In Awa Odori, women wear a yukata, a summer kimono made of light cotton, and amigasa, a hat made of woven rush grass, and dance in a more stylish way. They turn the palms inward and upward, and gracefully move the wrists. (web-japan.org)

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(3) Koenji, Tokyo | 29th August 2010

The troupe sings “Ya-to-sa” as they dance through the city streets. The lyrics of the Awa Odori festival song include the phrase, “the dancing fool and the watching fool are both fools, so let’s dance!”

Odoru ahou ni, Miru ahou, Onaji ahou nara, Odorana son, son
(Crazy Dancers / with other crazies watching them / Since both alike are mad / You might as well dance.)

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I met up with my friend Esa (aka @esa_raditya) last Sunday for a short photo walk. We walked from Ginza then down to Shinbashi, and hopped onto the Yamanote Line to Akihabara, where I also met Fernando (aka @HelloNavi) for the first time.

Also on that day, I met my photo and geek friends Jose (aka @ungatonipon) and Kyle (aka @KyleHase).

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Hamaorisai is held annually during the Marine Day (Umi-no-hi) in Chigasaki City, Kanagawa. Hamaorisai, which literally means “descend to the beach festival”, is a summer festival in which people take the mikoshi, or the portable Shinto shrine, into the sea.

The photos were taken from 4:00 to 7:00 in the morning on the 19th of July, 2010.

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Tanabata is a popular celebration in Japan which is, in modern times, held on the the first weekend of July. Also known as wish festival, Tanabata is derived from the Chinese star festival, Qi Xi (七夕 “The Night of Sevens”)．

It celebrates the meeting of Orihime (Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). According to legend, the Milky Way, a river made from stars that crosses the sky, separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The celebration is held at night. — Wikipedia

Around the first week of July, festivals are held in many places in Japan. Streets are are decorated with colorful paper streamers and lanterns.

In Japan, people write their wishes on narrow strips of paper and hang them on trees or bamboo branches placed in the backyards or in the streets where the festival is on.

Below are some of the wishes people write on the colored paper strips.
“I want to be happy.”,
… “I want to be rich.”,
“I want to be good in tennis…”,
… “We wish to be forever in love with each other.”

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All the photos were taken at the Tanabata Festival in Hiratsuka City, Kanagawa.

Last Sunday, April 18th, Soleil Provence, together with 260 volunteers, celebrated Earth Day with it’s 2nd Beach Clean-up in Kugenuma Beach, Fujisawa. The clean-up started at 11:00am and ended at 1:30pm.

The volunteers were formed into groups and were scattered along Kugenuma beach. In this photo, Enoshima is seen in the background.

A volunteer bringing a plastic bag with beach litter is seen in this photo.

This is the picture after the collected debris are gathered all together.

And then the segregation…

And the counting…

In total, the volunteers collected 45 bags or 130 kgs of beach litter.

The whole experience was fun. Looking forward to the next clean-up in fall.

Here’s a short video clip by Bob of podcast Chocolat.

Fujisawa beach cleaning (Soleil Provence) from chocolat on Vimeo.

Last week, I spent an hour shooting around Shinagawa station after getting my engineer visa renewed for another year in Japan. The station was not too crowded (well, it wasn’t in the rush hours), but still, you can see a lot of people mostly in suits, rushing towards to, and away from the station.

This is the the thing I love doing – street photography. That afternoon, I did shoot mostly from the hips. This style gives a new and interesting perspective to every shot.

Hanami is a Japanese tradition of enjoying the view of flowers especially the sakura or cherry blossoms during spring season. The word ‘hanami’ is almost synonymous to outdoor picnicking or partying.

(Hanami was first used as a term analogous to cherry blossom viewing in the Heian era novel Tale of Genji. Whilst a wisteria viewing party was also described, from this point on the terms “hanami” and “flower party” were only used to describe cherry blossom viewing. — Wikipedia)

In Japan, sakura trees are everywhere – in parks, river banks and road sides.

Hanami is a great time for lovers. Isn’t it just lovely walking beneath those beautiful sakura trees with your special someone?

And also for the families…

Hanami is all about enjoying the company of others…

But, one can still enjoy(?) it alone, like this old man sleeping…

Or, this kid climbing up the tree.

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Note: The photos are taken in Meguro-gawa (Pic 1-3) and Shinjuku Gyoen (Pic 4-7).

“The parade of the white balloon people!”

Last weekend at the Roppongi Art Night, I’ve witnessed an amazing dream-like street performance by Compagnie des Quidams. The whole act is called “Rêve d’Herbert“, which means “Herbert’s Dream“.

“The slim, human-like shadow-beings, wander around the streets seeking out light. In the quiet of night, these figures gesture to each other, coming close and moving apart in a dance-like dialog.”

“They also beckon to passersby. Before you know it, you are swept up in their mysterious world.”

“Step by step, they are transformed into voluminous 4m height characters. Deformed and majestuous at the same time, clumsy and ethereal, as come from another planet, their heads light up.”

“Then the enormous silhouettes take us off around a luminous star.”

“To a strange and bewitching music, the characters make a magic rite which make the star rising up in the sky…”

“As a wick at the moon… As in a dream…”

Quotes from:
– Roppongi Art Night Website
– Herbert’s Dream Website

Special thanks to:
– Mika for the special French dinner/snacks prior to this performance.
– Raku-chan for his super duper big lens, AF NIKKOR 180mm f/2.8D IF-ED.

The Flickr Tokyo Photo Session (FTPS) group had last month’s photo walk in Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park in Minami-Azabu, Tokyo. [Map]

History
Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park was originally the urban villa of a feudal lord, Minonokami Nambu. In 1896 it was acquired by the noble Arisugawa-no-miya family. However, as Japan modernized, more and more importance began to be placed on the role of nature in educating children, and the family donated the land to Tokyo city in 1934 as a park for that purpose.Tokyo city set to work redeveloping it, and Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park was born in the same year. In 1975, the Tokyo metropolitan authority transfered the administration of the park to the local ward office of Minato. (Source: japanvisitor.com)

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Father and son on a small bridge in the park.

A bike is parked near the stream.

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Ume, or the Japanase plum, has started to bloom.

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Just me playing with reflection on the pond.

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The FTPS group walking in the park.

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Group photo by ndavid .

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Click here if you are interested in joining the future photo walks by FTPS.

Japan, as a non-Christian country, does not celebrate Christmas. December 25th is not a national holiday. But Japanese people, as great lovers of festivals and celebrations, try to celebrate it in a commercial way. Local government and big companies decorate parks and buildings with colorful illumination.

Last Saturday, I went to Tokyo Midtown, Shiodome, and Tokyo Tower to see the illuminations in these places. (Click here to check where you can see more illuminations).

Grass Square “Starlight Garden” in Tokyo Midtown

Illuminated balls in Sakura-dori in Tokyo Midtown

Capturing the sea of illumination in Caretta, Shiodome.

Also, Christmas in Japan is a perfect day to spend with your lover.

Caretta OCEAN Xmas 2009 in Shiodome

Tokyo Tower’s Light Down Story

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Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

–Jesslee