On Saturday, we went to a park that had fields and fields of blooming flowers. We walked around for about an hour. It was beautiful!
Shirotori Dance Festival: That evening, we all dressed in yukatas (which are summer kimonos) to go to the Shirotori Dance Festival.
Shirotori Dancing is done every summer as a way of welcoming back the spirits of past ancestors...whatever that means! Around 8 pm, people came together from surrounding towns to dance around a float that was placed in the middle of the street. On the float were singers and musicians which provided the music.
I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was definitely surprised with the difficulty of the dancing. It reminded me a little of country line dancing in the sense that everyone did the same thing at the same time, but of course to Japanese music. Also, they not only danced using their feet, they used their arms as well. Each song had a different dance, which made it entertaining to watch.
Since Zelie and I were the only foreigners at this festival, we got a lot of attention. Many people asked to take pictures with us and would go out of there way to give us food, fans, etc. It was great! One woman was literally feeding me and Zelie fish with her own hands! The picture below is of her feeding Zelie.
Here is a video of the dancing:
Here is a video of Zelie and Yurie dancing...I was unfortunately too uncoordinated to dance!
At 11:00, the festival ended and we went back to Zelie's apartment. This was yet another great memory of our time in Japan!
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