The Japanese festival experience is actually quite similar to a fair or summer celebration in the States. There’s dancing, performances, food, games, etc. Pretty typical festival stuff, with just a few minor differences: you’ve probably had a corn dog, right? Or some other meat on a stick? Well, they’ve got the same kind of thing here, but instead of an overly processed pork product, it’s octopus. That’s right, folks. Octopus on a stick. And people just go around eating this stuff like we would eat a hot dog.
I, after careful consideration, opted for the tamer, deep fried octopus ball. This festival fare is bite-size chunks of octopus dropped into a deep fryer and covered in a sauce and some cabbage-like garnish. Delish!
Our foray into matsuri culture did not stop at the food. We enjoyed a traditional fan dance, taiko drumming and the ritual shrine procession. Definitely check out the pictures to see the huge taiko drum that almost ran over me as I was trying to get a photo.
My favorite part of the matsuri? I could actually see everything that was happening! At 5’8”, I was on the taller side of festival-goers and very few people blocked my view. Pretty cool coming from America where there’s always some tall guy standing in front of you.
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