Tokyobling's Blog

Smiling Japan

Posted in Japanese Traditions, People, Places by tokyobling on August 28, 2011

Yesterday I visited the annual Koenji Awaodori festival, one of the biggest festivals in the country with over a million visitors and 12 500 dancers. This year however the festival is mived to daytime rather than evening in order to conserve energy. It feels strange to see this in full daylight but the dancers did their best to keep the festival in high moods! This year the theme is Keep Japan Smiling and as you can see they did a pretty good job! The third day of the event is today and the dancing starts in about 15 minutes. Hurry up!

Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,

14 comments

14 Responses

Subscribe to comments with RSS.

  1. The Content Guy said, on August 28, 2011 at 1:03 pm

    The first shot is great! Says it all.

    Like

    Reply
    • tokyobling said, on August 29, 2011 at 1:11 am

      Thanks! I showed it to the guy himself, the day after I took it and he loved it! (^-^)

      Like

      Reply
  2. Lili said, on August 28, 2011 at 1:29 pm

    Keep Japan Smiling… What a great and touching idea !!
    Great shots and lovely collection of smiles 🙂

    Like

    Reply
    • tokyobling said, on August 29, 2011 at 1:12 am

      Thanks Lili! I agree, these people are doing a lot to put smile on our faces!

      Like

      Reply
  3. fritz said, on August 28, 2011 at 2:39 pm

    though a daytime Odori makes the photography easier 😉

    my summer in Tokyo is over now, I’m back in Germany since last wednesday. unfortunately, I had too much work to do so I couldn’t see any Hana Bi or Odori dances…

    Like

    Reply
    • tokyobling said, on August 29, 2011 at 1:13 am

      Haha… it does! Well, there are other drawbacks (cluttered backgrounds etc.) but over all, easier. Especially the colors! Too bad to hear you didn’t get to see as many festivals you wanted. Make sure to enjoy Germany though! I really need to go visit there some day. It’s been a looooooooong time since!

      Like

      Reply
  4. Moony said, on August 28, 2011 at 3:07 pm

    Such a wonderful entry. I love to see people smiling ♥.

    Like

    Reply
    • tokyobling said, on August 29, 2011 at 1:14 am

      Thanks Moony and long time no see! I love these kind of posts too! I can never get enough of these smiles!

      Like

      Reply
  5. Timi said, on August 28, 2011 at 5:38 pm

    I wish every people would be like this all the time^o^ Thanks for the amazing post!

    Like

    Reply
    • tokyobling said, on August 29, 2011 at 1:14 am

      Me to, Timi! Hurry up and come over to Japan and join one of these teams now! (^-^)

      Like

      Reply
  6. amblerangel said, on August 29, 2011 at 1:53 am

    I LOVE this post! Great pictures of folks having a good time….Made me smile- and tweet.

    Like

    Reply
    • tokyobling said, on August 29, 2011 at 2:25 am

      Thanks Ambler! I always appreciate your kind words!

      Like

      Reply
  7. pk1154 said, on August 29, 2011 at 12:32 pm

    Wonderful smiles, just what I needed!

    (We moved E and a rental van load of baggage back to college on Sunday.)

    Like

    Reply
    • tokyobling said, on August 30, 2011 at 1:20 am

      Thank you pk1154! I am sure that E’s return has been eagerly awaited by the squirrels, hungry for their wasabi coated peanuts again!

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment