Roppongi Hills Bon Odori

 Obon is a 3 day long festival that is celebrated at different times in different regions of Japan, in either July or August. During this time people go and visit their families and pay respect to the spirits of their ancestors by visiting and cleaning their graves. Bon Odori is the dancing and drumming festival that takes place during this period.

We went to the Roppongi Hills Bon Odori on Sunday afternoon and had a great time watching the colourful dancers strutting their stuff.

The view from one level up at Roppongi Hills shopping centre.

The dance instructor showing us the moves.

The drummers were fantastic. Bit hard to see through the decorations.

The food stalls and beer gardens were a hit, if not a bit pricey. Not surprising considering the neighbourhood.

The oldies and the kids were all having a ball.

Lots of pretty yukatas.

Nice way to spend an afternoon or evening. The Friday evening was food stalls only, Saturday and Sunday food stalls from 3pm till 9pm and drumming/dancing between 5pm and 8pm. Held on 2nd last weekend in August every year.

Tamagawa Hanabi

Fireworks are a big deal in Japan. There are thousands of firework displays to choose from during Summer from mid July till the end of August. Here is a handy calender to some of the more popular events - Hanabi Calender. People get dressed up in traditional clothing and take picnics down to watch the fun.

On Saturday we went to the Tamagawa Hanabi, along the river near Futako Tamagawa station (Denentoshi line) about 15 minutes from Shibuya station. The Tamagawa Hanabi is a fireworks competition along the river between two rival cities. This year it was Kawasaki City vs. Setagaya.

Getting dressed in our yukata and jinbei, ready for some summer festival time.

 
 We arrived at about 3:30pm and found a spot to settle in for the evening. With our blue tarps, beers and snacks we were all sorted.

The crowds arriving in the afternoon, getting ready for the fireworks show from 7pm till 8pm.

Bit of last minute hairdressing by the young girls sitting in front of us.

And once the fireworks began, they were pretty spectacular. Excuse the blurry shots, I only had my camera phone with me.

I was impressed at how well organized and well behaved it was. (I know, I know, I should know better by now, it is Japan after all!) Considering the size of the crowd it was surprisingly easy to wait about 45 minutes till after the fireworks had finished, good time to finish of the remaining beers, and then walk up to the train station. 

We got straight onto a train, it was pretty squishy but not unbearable and were home again in less than an hour. (Or for some of our more energetic friends, they dropped their stuff home and went onto the nightclubs and stayed out till 6am). Good time had by all. Just wish they had a few more portaloos, half hour wait was a bit of killer.

Summer Sonic Music Festival

We spent so long procrastinating about which summer music festivals to go to in Japan that we didn't end up buying tickets to anything. How then did we end up at Summer Sonic 2014 you may ask? Well we were lucky enough to snaffle up a pair of 2 day passes thanks to a friend who could no longer attend due to work commitments.

The festival is held across two arenas, QVC Marine Field (a baseball stadium) and Makuhari Messe (a convention centre) in Chiba, which is a half hour train ride from Tokyo station. It is a short walk between the two venues or you can take shuttles buses back and forth.

The lineup was large and varied, something for all music tastes. We saw acts ranging from Suicidal Tendencies to Ellie Goulding to Pharcyde.

I loved the art installations & decorations that were set up around the arenas to make the walk between stages more interesting.

There were body paint stations and artists painting away in the shade of the indoor areas.

Bikini girls spraying water over the crowd, much appreciated on a hot humid day and I'm sure all the guys were enjoying the eye candy.

The enthusiasm levels of the crowds were amazing and I'm sure all the musicians love coming back and playing at these festivals. It seems like a very well organised, relaxed event. I was surprised to see so many kids there but happy to see the smaller ones were wearing ear protection.


Suicidal Tendencies received a very vocal reception.

 Watching De La Soul at the beach stage

Crowd favourites - Total Fat

 The crowd getting a little crazy

There were some pretty interesting local touches too....

All in all, well worth the ticket price of 28,000 yen for a 2 day pass or 15,500 yen for a single day.

Yukata what? Buying a summer kimono in Tokyo

So I was a bit hesitant to go out and buy a yukata. I thought I would look like a tryhard gaijin knob. I know I am nowhere near as elegant or glamorous as the Japanese ladies. And food tends to attach itself to my clothing no matter how hard I try to manoeuvre it directly to my pie hole, which is probably not a good look for the crisp, clean lines of a yukata. But then I kept seeing all these gorgeous colours and patterns and I decided what the hell? You only live once and all that.

We are also going to watch fireworks (hanabi) in a couple of weeks with a bunch of mates and I know most people would be out and about in their yukatas. The summer kimono is worn outdoors from mid June till the end of August, especially at hanabi, summer festivals and beer gardens. It is also worn during the rest of the year indoors after you have had a soak in the onsen. The word Yukata translates as 'bath clothes'.

After reading a few online guides such as Yukata shopping for Hanabi season I headed to the Marui City (O1O1) department store in Shibuya. This decision was pretty much based on pure laziness. I couldn't be bothered shopping around for second hand bargains or attempting to use my awful Japanese on some poor shop assistant. So I went along to the department store and found English speaking staff with no problemo.

Now, to be honest, I could have probably found a better bargain but I really just wanted a basic, easy to wear, all cotton yukata set. The department store lady informed that they only sell yukatas till the end of August and then they switch over to heavier kimonoes for autumn and winter, so I was really down to my last opportunity to snap one up. There wasn't really a heap of larger size options left, being the end of the season and all. I liked how they label their yukatas, small, medium and tall. Who wants to be a size large when you can be a size tall? (For the record, I'm 5 foot 7, not usually considered Tall by Australian standards).

After explaining to the helpful assistant about my issues with food vs clothes, we rejected the white based options and selected a few of the darker coloured styles to try on. I ended up with this cute flower/goldfish pattern.

And the set I chose came with a red obi belt and bow.

The beauty of buying this type of yukata set is that it designed to be easier to wear and put on than the regular kind. The obi belt has velcro and is pre folded. The yukata itself has the inner sashes already attached so there is no need to tie, fold or tuck they way the traditional version requires. Despite being the simpler version, it still comes with a lengthy list of instructions.

I also bought a small red hair ornament but I skipped the traditional wooden sandals, at $80 a pop I thought I could get away with something cheaper elsewhere. You can also buy cotton shifts to wear underneath the yukata but other people had told me to skip those as well and just wear a cotton t-shirt and leggings underneath. Other add on items include bamboo purses or handbags, paper fans with bamboo handles and decorative strings and charms to go around your obi belts. Having already spent close to $200 on the yukata/obi belt & hair ornament I decided to skip all the extras and stick to the basics.

I made it home and attempted to dress myself as easily as the shop assistant had managed. Hmmm.... didn't quite work out as neatly as she had done it but with the help of some youtube videos and a few long stares at the instructions sheets I managed to get myself yukataed up.

Ta da! That's me waiting at the door with a beer for Chris, like the shop assistant told me I should. I gave up waiting after awhile and drank it myself. Just as well because he didn't get home till about 5 hours later....

PS Ended up getting these geta from Donki's (discount department store) for about $18. They also had clearance rack of men's and women's yukata sets for as low as $50.

Also did some present shopping at Oriental Bazaar on Omotesando and they had a range of cheap to mid level price ranged yukatas on the basement level as well as gorgeous second hand antique kimonos on the 2nd floor.

PPS So turns out I had my yukata tucked in the wrong way in that photo above, should be tucked right side underneath, left side on top. The way I had it was they way you dress dead people for their funerals! Whoops! Only found out this information after I had been wearing my yukata in public for about 6 hours. Had wondered why so many people asked me who had dressed me.