Mishima Festival 2011

If you’ve followed this blog for a while you’ll know that one of my favorite areas of Japan is Shizuoka prefecture, and of course, the summer festivals the cities and villages in this lovely part of Japan has to offer! In August it’s Mishima’s turn to take center stage with their huge Mishima summer festival. I visited last year and took these photos. Mishima is mostly famous for having incredibly clean water, and although I have tried water that is said to be even better, the water I tasted in Mishima was by far the best I have ever tasted. If you’re in Shizuoka prefecture over the summer, this is a must visit!

Rakugaki Senbei – Festival Food and Fun

Earlier this year as I visited the festival in Yoshiwara I was reminded of the rakugai senbei I saw at the Mishima festival (not far away at all) about a year earlier. They are a slightly rare sight at most festivals, but always fun to watch and very popular with kids! The senbei is a flat sweet rice cake, and the rakugaki means graffiti, or drawings. The kids draw their own designs on the flat cakes in gum syrup, very sweet, and when they are done the girl (it’s almost always a girl) will take them and add sweet and sour sparkly powder to the wet and sticky paint. Most kids love it! Absolutely not very healthy and not very cheap either, but what parents could resist giving their kid a chance to do this? You can see some of the expert example designs made before hand. Most kids aren’t quite there in their artistic ability yet!

If you visit a festival this summer, see if you can spot any rakugaki senbei! And if you give it a shot, please let us know and show us the results!