Animations from an Event Behind My House

Wonderful and Whacky

 

 

Fireworks and festivals take place somewhere on the island, every weekend these days.

Instead of traveling miles and miles to see them, I stayed close to home.

The parking lot for this preschool is directly behind my house.

So, there wasn't going to be too much wear and tear on the yellow flip-flops.

It didn't take over two minutes to get to this event.

The little boys and girls get to dance in their summer pajamas.

Music being cranked out of loudspeakers gets the kids dancing.

It sounded like some Japanese version of Pop Goes the Weasel.

The more mature young ladies, got to wear yukatta or, summer kimonos.

Some of the songs sounded like Mickey Mouse and Yankee Doodle Dandy.

Parents and teachers got involved in some sort of relay race.

It was hilarious watching some of the stuff they had to do in the competition.

They raced around the stage on toy scooters and with tennis rackets.

There was one part where they ran with a volleyball stuck in their crotch.

nd, an event where they blew up a balloon while running around the stage.

Then, they had to bust it with their fanny, at the end !

From the north district of Kin, came the Nakagawa Eisa Group.

And, I'd rather watch them perform than, see fireworks, anywhere.

That's because, one of them happens to be an 18 year old sweetheart, of mine !

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Tanabata or Typhoon Party -- Which Will It Be ?

In Japan It's Tanabata

Activities at a Preschool Happyokai (発表会) in Ginoza Okinawa

Watch the Action from Your Air-conditioned Room

 

 

Thinking it would be a Tanabata Festival sort of event, held indoors, I carried a flash.

In a school auditorium, packed with kids and parents, I'd have to shoot fast.

The first surprise was, we would be outdoors on a hot and steamy summer night.

It was shortly before 7PM when I took this photo.

Happy to be outside, I left the external flash and spare batteries in my pocket.

Natural lighting, suits me best and, being in the open, I could move around a lot easier.

Parents, who know me, were asking me to take plenty of photos.

Normally, I would do that, anyway. I try to get pictures of everybody's kids.

It's hard enough for me to identify my own family members at events like this.

The kids , were Eisa dancing with frogs on their heads.

And, it looks like they are beating laundry detergent bottles.

 The only way, to make sure, you get a photo of your friend's kid, is shoot everybody.

Then, load a bunch of photos up and let Auto Awesome, put them together.

That way, parents can look at the motion GIFs and try to find their kids.

These children, must be older. They have real drums.

It's important, to make sure, all the boys and girls get their picture taken.

So, I try and make sure, no one is left out.

That teacher, in the red kimono, really knew how to get those children dancing.

There's a model release, in my camera bag, she could sign.

It's too bad, Mrs. RyukyuMike and I, didn't stay longer.

We left the Village of Ginoza and headed back to Kin Town.

A daughter, called, while we were soaking up the air-conditioning and some suds in a bar.

And, she said, after all the children went home, the parents and teachers continued.

They continued the celebrating Tanabata, while the children were sleeping.

Groan

If we had stayed, I might have had a few beers with them.

And, if I got the courage, I'd have asked that gal to teach me how to do that dance !

In Japan It's Tanabata---Tonight Is a Special Night !

Call it the Star Festival

 

It almost slipped my mind, this year.  July 7th, is Tanabata.

On Okinawa it isn't one of those festivals where everyone goes to celebrate and party.

Only one house, that I know of, goes hog wild decorating for the event.

A sweetheart of a gal named, Nakamoto, in Nanjo City, hangs up all these decorations.

She has been decorating her yard with all these bright colors for over 20 years.

The star festival comes from a Chinese legend.

It seems, this young couple (We'll call them stars) fell in love.

 They got fooling around, too much and forgot to do their jobs.

 So, the big guy in the sky separated them.

He stuck them on opposite ends of the Milky Way, astronomically speaking.

That way, they could only get to see each other, once a year.

Some people decorate for the event, others, just look up at the stars.

Tanabata, meaning the night of the seventh, you should look up there.

Tonight is the only night of the year those two wayward stars get together.

See if you can catch them fooling around !

MORE ABOUT TANABATA


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Brilliant Colors at Tanabata Festival in Okinawa

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Photo Essay: Tanabata Decorations are Up in Nanjo, Again !

Just yesterday, I was in Nanjo City Okinawa checking on Tanabata.

There weren't any decorations hanging in the trees and nobody was at home. 

Groan.

That got me worried about whether, or not Fumiko Nakamoto was doing alright.

She's the sweetheart who celebrates Tanabata, the Star Festival, every year by sprucing up her

property with thousands of brilliant, folded-paper doohickeys.

Today, we went back down that way and, discovered that overnight, the job got done.

It was a little bit windy and that made all the paper stuff move around a lot.

 But, you rarely hear me cussing the wind, when it blows on a hot day in July.

 Shooting photos of all the brilliant colors, from every angle, is what I was there to do.

Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding.

Fumiko is a Master at Origami, I'd have to say.

   She folds and strings all the artwork.

And, she hangs the decorations in the trees, by herself.

Mapitokinawa got a photo of the real star of Tanabata in Nanjo City Okinawa.

There she is shaking hands with some old guy ! 



Related Post: Brilliant Colors at Tanabata Festival in Okinawa 




 

1st Visit to Shimashii-Ozato Castle: An Unplanned Photo Essay

Don't ask how these things happen because I haven't got an answer.

The plan for today was to go shoot a bird from Africa but, he never showed.

Next, we went down the east coast of Okinawa to see if this old gal, who decorates her yard for the

Tanabata Festival, had started hanging her stars and streamers yet.

Nothing was hanging in the trees.  And, nobody was home.

So, Doc Graff looks up in the hills and points at some tower.

He thinks Ozato Castle may be somewhere, up there.

Son of a gun if he wasn't right.

Neither one of us had ever been to this castle before, because it's so hard to find.

And, I could kick myself for leaving all my short lenses behind.

Big Bertha, the Sigma 50-500mm, isn't the kind of lens I would usually use for castles.

The way to stop having these unplanned photo essays would be to take all my camera stuff

with me when I go out shooting.  I want to go back and do this castle right.

Guaranteed, if I leave Big Bertha home when I go back to Ozato

THAT CRAZY AFRICAN BIRD WILL SHOW UP !

Visit my website for today's Feature Photo

Photo Essay: Brilliant Colors at Tanabata Festival in Okinawa

Riding around on the southern end of Okinawa, Japan today I looked out my window as Doc Graff of ISLAND PEOPLE PORTRAITS FAME was negotiating the curves and spotted these bright colored things hanging from trees.  I don't think he saw them.  So, I yelled out, "What the Frapachino was that"?  

Er, it was something along those lines to get his attention off the highway.

We made a couple of u-turns to get a closer look and some people who had just arrived and parked their cars invited us on in to take some photos. They mentioned that it was "Tanabata".

Some of my brain cells recognized the word Tanabata but, I wasn't sure what it meant.  I didn't want to crash somebody's funeral, wedding, childbirth or 50th anniversary party with my camera so, I looked the word up in my cell phone dictionary.  It's some sort of Star Festival.  Now, I remember.

Look at the decorations hanging from the trees.  There could be a thousand of them covering acres of land.

There were paper chains, cranes, stars,  gift-wrapped boxes, streamers and DVDs hanging from the trees!

This is the kind of stuff I love taking photos of even if the sun is burning the highlights out of the pictures and the wind won't let anything stand still.  I was having a blast and forgot Doc was with me, somewhere.

He had wandered up to the house of this private property we were on and met the gal who made all these decorations.  One Okinawan gal did it all by herself and she's been hanging these brilliant, handmade decorations in her yard for over twenty years.  What a sweetheart !

In Japan it's not rude to ask someone their age.  When  I asked she (ahem) was a bit senior to me.  So, when she asked my age (ahum) I lied and told her I'm 89.  That's just to seem polite.

She was a doll.  Even went in her house and brought out some huge glasses of iced coffee for Doc and I. 

I would have hugged her but, I was sweating like a pig and smelled a lot worse.

There are all sorts of versions on the history of Tanabata.  It is celebrated in China and Japan under different titles.  I won't stick my neck out and pretend to be an expert on the subject. 

I just know it has something to do with the Milky Way, stars and some guy and gal lovers who only get a chance to visit each other on the seventh day of the seventh month every year.

We chatted awhile and got all the gals at the house laughing, thanked them for everything and headed back up north.  But, the gal who made all these brilliant colored decorations for Tanabata invited us to come back again.  So, next year when I (ahem) turn 90, I think I may visit for another glass of iced coffee and shoot some more photos.

More about Tanabata may be seen at:

MUZA-CHAN'S GATE TO JAPAN

WIKIPEDIA ORG