On Saturday, we went to Ekoji Buddhist Temple’s annual Obon Festival in Fairfax Station. They had a variety of Japanese summer festival activities and games for kids, arts and crafts for sale, as well as a lot of Japanese food for sale — everything from somen, gyudon, mabodufu, chicken teriyaki, spam musubi, shaved ice, mochi, and other desserts! The area was decorated in traditional matsuri style with lanterns strung around and outdoor tables and stations for the various vendors.
Arriving at Ekoji Buddhist Temple’s Obon festival.
When we got there, the festival was already bustling with tons of people!
Mio and I making our way over to the shaved ice stand for a cool refreshment.
Daddy says “open wide!” for the kakigori.
Enjoying some melon-flavored kakigori (shaved ice).
There were lots of games for children.
Instead of the traditional game of scooping live goldfish, they had kids scoop plastic toys and rubber duckies that they could take home with them.
During the ring toss, Mio didn’t understand why everyone was purposely making it hard for themselves by throwing the rings. She kept going over and carefully placing the rings on the sticks.
She still won some bubbles and a whistle as prizes!
A lot of people were dressed in yukatas and jinbeis, the Japanese festival garb.
Mio of course sported her own jinbei and got a lot of smiles and compliments from strangers!
We ran into our friend Mimi at the festival. Thanks for taking this picture of us, Mimi!
There was also Yo-yo tsuri (fishing for water balloons).
Later in the evening, there was bon-odori, and a lot of people joined in the dancing.
Some video of the bon-odori dancing:
Nen Daiko also gave an awesome taiko performance!
Here is Nen Daiko performing “Satori no Michi.” Mio started yelling along with the drummers towards the end, much to our dismay…
We left shortly afterwards as Mio was getting really rowdy and we were worried she’d disturb everyone’s enjoyment of the taiko performances. At the end of the Obon festival, they supposedly had a candle memorial ceremony to remember loved ones who have passed on. Maybe next time, we’ll be able to stay for the whole festival! 🙂 It’s great that our children will be able to experience and take part in these Japanese traditions even while they live in America. Even as Americans, it’s a valuable thing to get exposure to your ethnic heritage and its traditions so that you can develop an understanding and appreciation for them. I think going to Obon will definitely be a family tradition for us in the years to come!
On Saturday afternoon, we drove down to go to the Mountain View Obon Festival. We’d always heard about it and had wanted to check it out, but it’s about an hour drive away for us so we hadn’t gone until this year. We originally wanted to attend on Sunday because that’s the day they have the bon-odori, but Dan had an obligation that day, so Saturday was the only time we could go together. We had a wonderful time experiencing Obon together as a family!
Arriving at Mountain View Obon
Dan enjoying a beer
Mio was dressed up in her matsuri attire – thank you Yuko & family for the jinbei!
I dressed in yukata for the festival. It’s been a while since I wore one!
It was really hot down in Mountain View… especially in the yukata!
There were various food stands serving shaved ice, sushi, manju, ohagi, chicken teriyaki, beef teriyaki, corn, corn dogs, french fries, spam musubi, beer, sake, and other refreshments.
Kingyo-sukui (Goldfish Scooping Game) – an Obon classic!
Love all the colors!
Mio and I watching the Goldfish Game
Mio loved walking around and taking in everything.
Thankfully, she’s been getting better about holding my hand while navigating crowds.
Taking a break to eat some ohagi and sip on Italian soda.
Mio has been doing this funny thing where she pretends to sip water, and then afterwards lets out a big burst of breath, like it was really refreshing. I’m not sure where she learned it from… I have a feeling it’s from this beer commercial, which comes on a lot when I’m watching Japanese TV shows. Here it is on video.
Silly girl.
Love her!
We ran into our friends Ali and Tim, who recently just moved back to the area after living in DC for a couple years.
Mio loved them!
A family picture (courtesy of Ali)
Our first time at Mountain View Obon!
Around 6pm, we headed over to the stage area where Jun Daiko was going to have a taiko performance.
This adorable little boy was walking around the taiko set.
Meanwhile, Mio was getting restless and flashing people with very unladylike poses. Please don’t do this when you are 16…
…so we moved her to Dan’s lap.
Jun Daiko performing – they were great! I love watching taiko.
Mio’s first time seeing taiko – she was fascinated, too.
A lion came out during the performance.
Mio was transfixed on the lion.
The lion went around to different members of the audience, and he eventually made his way over to Mio. She was definitely a bit intimidated and shrank bank a little, but she didn’t turn away. Even after it left, she kept her eyes on him and pointed in his direction.
Here’s the last half of Jun Daiko’s finale performance of “Inazuma.”
“Inazuma” performance by Jun Daiko
Towards the end, Mio was yelling along with the taiko performers… lol.
Afterwards, we headed over to downtown Mountain View for a ramen dinner and frozen yogurt for dessert!
Our messy ramen eater
A froyo lover, just like Daddy!
I’m really glad that we made the drive down to go to the festival this year! It was memorable, and I think it’s great to give Mio exposure to Japanese culture and traditions so that she can develop an appreciation for her ethnic heritage.
