Ninohe Matsuri

Last week, I posted on my town festival, Ichinohe Matsuri. In case you're wondering why the names are so similar, let me give you a quick Japanese lesson.

Ichinohe: 一戸
Ninohe: 二戸

As you can see, the second kanji is the same. It means "door." The first Kanji is a number. My town is "first door." Ninohe is "second door." There are 8 nohe's, from 1 to 9. There's no 4, because 4 is bad luck. One of the pronunciations of 4 is "shi," which is also the word for death. These doors go around in a circle. So my town, Ichinohe (first door) is next to Kunohe (ninth door) and south of Ninohe (second door).

But that really has nothing to so with anything...

Last week was Ninohe's festival. I didn't take anywhere near as many pics, but here are a few of the highlights.

Oooo! Legs! lol.


Some people decorated their yukata (summer kimono) with balloons.


Poor kiddies. One of Ninohe's elementary schools.


Even the Na'vi came out. Proof that the festival was out of this world! And just in case you wonder which group was crazy enough, that would be the hospital. All the crazy people in Ninohe seem to be doctors...


And then there was this guy. Erm... At least he was nice enough to pose.


Ninohe had 10 floats, compared to Ichinohe's 5. They're a city and we're only a town. Either way, we made up for it in spirit :)


Here's a vid of one of the dances. Ignore our running commentary :)


And the second dance.


Summer in Japan is fab! Fireworks, kakigori (snow cone-ish thing) and festivals out the wazoo!