Mitama Matsuri People – Yasukuni Shrine

This year’s opening of the massive Mitama Matsuri at Yasukuni Shrine must have broken some sort of record, if not in the number of people then at least in the temperature! It was absolutely boiling away as what must have been several hundreds of thousands of people gathered to enjoy one of Tokyo’s best and largest festivals. The festival started last night at six and goes on until Tuesday night, with events, music, marching bands, choirs, awaodori, obon dancing, monkey shows, traditional Japanese dance, poetry, art, omikoshi, etc. It’s like a mini Olympics in Japanese culture! It’s also a festival were a very large percentage of visitors turn out in Japanese traditional clothing, both foreigners and Japanese. How about these cute kids or the yukata beauties? But I think this superbly handsome dad took the gold medal in his simple retro yukata and hat!

Mitama Matsuri is famous for its many yellow lanterns – if you are in Tokyo over the long weekend, this is something you don’t want to miss!