This past weekend was the 40th Kashiwa Matsuri. After teaching my Saturday class, I headed to the Matsuri with one of the ladies in my class and we made it just in time to see the Kashiwa Odori. This series of photos may look a bit different than usual and that's because I went with a super old school film edit on all of these (KODAK-PORTRA100T++).
I went with a film edit for two reasons...
1) Matsuris are old school events that deserve this super grainy film look
2) My camera died 20 minutes into the festival so I literally only took about 30 frames which made me really feel like I really used a film camera!
Everyone brought their Yukatas out!
About 10 teams participated in the Kashiwa Odori (dance) and the group you see down there in red are the Torrance kids who were here on a three week exchange! They did a great job doing this dance along side some professionals.
My friend Mina, her husband and Miss Guam 2016 haha! Kashiwa is sister cities with a city in Guam so we have a lot of connections with them...and apparently those connections led to Miss Guam coming and joining the festival.
This was the last pic I took before my camera suddenly died...but I kind of like that I only took a few photos that day because it gives these photos a chance to speak for themselves more.
After watching the Kashiwa Odori, Mina, her husband and I cruised around the busy streets lined with food stalls that were selling everything from beer, to hot dogs, to shaved ice, to yakisoba, to friend chicken...yummmm! There was such a buzz in the air from all the activity, and on top of that there was the thick Japanese humidity! Combine the crazy weather, with the delicious smell of food, with the yukatas everywhere, and the sounds of getas (wooden sandals) clicking on the road...and I felt 100% immersed in my Japanese culture. I loved it! I even ran into a few students wandering the streets with their friends...and I went home that night so thankful to call this little corner of Japan my hometown.