last night was the 25th annual japanese autumn festival or, aki matsuri (no, you did not go to school with a guy with that name). as always, it is held at ypao beach park, and as always, it was raining. only this year it was more like monsoons than the occasional outburst. did it stop the several thousand dancing in the mud? ha! you underestimate the power of cheap japanese food, my friend.



i always go a little late because it's easier to find parking at the beach lots, but this year was packed--i was lucky to get the last cramped parallel parking slot near a dumpster with the help of a bored cop (thanks bored cop!). super muddy. super packed, although i imagine it seemed more packed because people were crowding around the tents and not in the open field. the tents, of course, mostly were about food, but there were also games for the kids, massage and fortune telling booths, and nomi no ichi, or, flea market, which looked more like a rice cooker graveyard than anything else.


why aren't we all electrocuted?



the taiko drum stand used to be on top of the stage in the middle of the field, but this year, the stage was on one end, and the drum stand high in the middle. the organizers, the japan club, didn't have as many performers come in from japan this year, but the ones they had were pretty good. there were dance groups for the dance fest on friday and the festival last night, taiko groups, and some random singers. no yomiuri giants. a couple of beauty queens testing out their english skills ("you have beautiful island. i come back one day." cheers from crowd. next.) a woman who was a karaoke champion and now professional...karaoke singer?!...or something sang a song written especially about the island called "paradise". ay. does anyone remember suzuki ami and "love the island"? cute jpop, but i think a pr flop. man, i wish i had a photo of the japanese mc. straight outta the matrix, baby. like the matrix meets japanese porn meets pink lady. realllllllllly scary.



not so scary was the drag queen dance troupe, hokkaido rah-rahs, who did a cheerleading routine to the japanese version of toni basil's "mickey" ("miki!"). i wish the photos were clearer, but i think i was too busy laughing. you get the idea though.



my favourite of the taiko drum groups was kitami fusetsu taiko, which featured two 10-year old girls, who are absolutely my new japanese idols. so utterly kawaii.

of course, the mikoshi, or portable shrine went around the festival grounds, and of course, we all indulged in "hey look at the goofy gai jin!" dancing.



you can find more photos here. ah, i think i look forward to thanksgiving only because i know aki matsuri is around the corner. can't wait for next year.