A Japanese Kind of Summer

Like many cities across the world, summer is a time for many awesome festivals and Japan does not fall short on that list.  To sum up the festivals (matsuris) that I've been to so far, they consist of a lot of street food, Japanese dancing, floats, drums and booze. Not too shabby. :)

Here are a few pics from the Narita Festival....

Everyone loved the airplane bird...man?  not sure

so. cute.

 The best festival of all, of course was the one that was held LITERALLY right outside my front door step.  Like. literally.   I mean how can you beat being able to walk to and from your house in a matter of two minutes to get a cold beer out of your fridge?  The answer is you can't.  Which is why this festival was awesome.

Us with our favorite little man...and HE initiated the peace sign!

work it boys

One of my students and her mom wanted to go to the festival with us for a bit.... little did we know they would be bringing over yukatas for us to wear.  A yukata is a Japanese dress similar to a kimono. It's not as formal though and it's made of polyester rather than silk which is what is used for a kimono.  Sara's mom put the yukatas on us....in a very methodical way.  It's not like you just slip these things on, that's for darn sure.
Sidenote:  Wearing a yukata on a hot summer night does NOT help with the heat factor.  Oh and I now understand why people walk the way they do while wearing these....they are NOT easy to walk in!

this is NOT an easy process

I think I'm turning Japanese....

My little BFF :)

This same weekend was also my friend's last weekend here....we had one last partayyyyy at our favorite bar. :)

Literally one of THE best places in the world.