海の日のみなと祭り

Final blog post for my big three blog posts. Well done on making it to the final blog post for this section of summer. The title is Minato (Port) Festival on Marine Day. 



After waking up late still tired from returning from Okinawa late the night before (literally caught the last train home) Mum helped me change into my yukata and provided me with pretty hair decorations previously used by Nanako and Mioko.

Mum is very good at tying yukata and made mine look perfect and the hair decoration I found matched my obi fantastically.

This yukata was given to my by the Sakata family back in 2009 and is much loved and treasured as it suits me so well.




Was to meet with Laura at 5pm at the Crystal Fountain in Sakae, though when I arrived only Garrett was there.Checked the net and found that Emily said she would arrive at 6, then when she arrived we learned that Laura would not be there until 6:20. >.<
Had some sushi from a near by restaurant for dinner.

Here are Garrett, Emily and myself (left) and a full shot of Emily and myself in our yukata (below). 





 Trains were mega super uber packed though we made it to Nagoya-ko (port) with time to spare.

Laura and Emily looked absolutely stunning!




You have all seen my fairy floss so shall not post it here, though it was the first thing I sought out thanks to its sweet connection with someone special.

 Though as is the way with fireworks, it was near impossible to get a decent shot.

There are no words to sufficiently describe fireworks in Japan, though I shall say that they usually happen in a number of vibrant and brilliant flourishes.

Well worth the packed trains and streets to have been able to see this.

No matsuri would be complete without floats. There was taiko drumming and shamisen playing though relatively few floats.




Walking home the long way avoiding the main subway lines, Laura and Emily bought small watermelons to nom. There was so much food at the festival with many varieties of meat on a stick, frozen and sugar or chocolate covered fruit as well as takoyaki and crepes.

Straight after the parade there were people sweeping the streets and tidying up just as you have all seen at the world cup. Japan really is an amazing country like that and I bet it was all cleaned up (including all the stalls) within an hour or so.

Looking forward to future festivals.