Sunday, September 6, 2009

Towadaka Lake Festival

I wish the zoom had worked a little better with this picture, but hopefully you get the gist. During the Labor Day Weekend we went to Towadaka Lake (about 1 1/2 hours from home) for another festival. Different regions/prefectures brought their floats, dancers, entertainers to one place for a grand parade. In this picture, these dancers had these poles with lanterns at the top. it kind of looked like a bunch of marshmallows being held over the fire. They would balance the poles on their chins, hands, and butts (as shown).
As is the case with every festival, the sounds of chanting "Yade, yade, yade" fills the air, mixed with the beating of drums and the playing of flutes. Behind this float are a bunch of guys with long sticks beating on these drums.
Towadaka Lake is known for their apples, and this was by far the best dessert I have had in Japan. It was a soft-serve apple ice cream. Needless to say, Chase loved it too. I couldn't keep his eyes off the ice cream. Even with his mom trying to get his attention, this was the best we could do.
Another large float. You can see all the men underneath carrying these floats down the street. Children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly all participate in these parades, from floats and dancing to flutes and drums. Our favorite dance was a reenactment of a fisherman catching a large fish. A bunch of dancers with fishing poles staged a huge fight with a fish before finally landing their catch. It was a lot of fun.
Whole fish on a stick. Don't knock it until you try it. So I assume this is some type of a lake trout. They basically catch these things, shove them on a stick, and roast them over a fire. My first bite was a little too adventurous and I caught a little bit too much of the fish's "insides". I had to pretend I was in a happy place while swallowing that one. After that, I stuck to the skin and fish meat and it was actually very good. I even gave Bre a taste and she agreed! She didn't get a bite with guts on it though!

2 comments:

The Crofts family said...

It looks like you guys are having a fun time touring around Japan. It seems like Chase is a good little trooper!

Aubrey said...

I love seeing all your updates. It looks like you guys are having a great time and you live in a beautiful place. I can't believe how big Chase is getting. What a darling little man. Sammy is crawling now. LOOK OUT!!!