More Asakusa Sanjamatsuri
More photos of the great people of Asakusa as they celebrate their massive Sanjamatsuri festival in last month. Asakusa is recognized as the number one tourist spot in Japan with an unbelievable 37 million visitors a year, and 2 million of those during the three day festival itself. It’s easy to imagine just how crowded this relatively small urban area is. Still, one of my favorite aspects of the festival is just looking at all the fantastic people working so hard to make it a traditional and fun festival for all. What about these people pressed hard against each other carrying their omikoshi near Sensou temple? And of course the kids with their miniature, while just being pulled it must still be quite heavy as we can interpret from the frown on the face of the girl indicating her sore shoulder to her friend. I still have hundreds of good photos from the festival but I doubt I’ll post very many more, after all, we’re heading into festival season!
Wow, 2 million people in a matter of three days, that is just amazing. I would run away screaming, it would just be too crowded for me, a new sense of claustrophobia would kick in as I imagine myself being properly squooshed and stepped on.
But I do love how you took one for the team and went into the jungle of people. And you got some great shots. Proving again that faces are the best way of communicating, barring some sort of visual impairment. That little girl telling her buddy that her shoulder ached is so classic, she had no idea she was going to be telling the world this fact if she even heard the click of your camera.
Thank you D! Yes, there are moments at that festival when all you can do is run for cover! But that is actually part of the fun! And amazingly, there are no hard feelings, people are super careful and I have never once been stepped upon! (^-^) But now that I write that I’ll probably be spiked tonight… I love taking these kind of photographs. And it’s the weekend so it’s time to get ready for the next round of festivals!
I do hope you make it out unscathed my friend. Yay, your weekend festival fun translates to my vicarious weekend festival fun.
Thank you D! My weekend was fantastic! It just keeps getting better the more I learn about this country!