Binzuru

On the first Saturday of every August, so on Aug 6th this year, Nagano City has its biggest summer festiva. It is named for a Buddhist Monk who had a great deal of fame here some 450 years ago.
It starts out with the transportation of mobile shrines through the streets.
This was the first festival I had taken part in here in Japan. The Nagano International Center invited some of us newbie gaijins (foreigners) to dance with their group in the streets. Now, let me explain, their are different groups that sign up to dance - including employees of a department store or club, for example all the sales ladies at a department store being led by their floor managers, or members of the Hakuba kendo club being led by their captain. Music is played on loudspeakers throughout the city, and maybe eight streets are closed for dancing. Each group dances with their own choreographed movements with matching happi coats.

It was awesome. Thousands of people, mostly in traditional styled clothing, dancing and shouting SORE! which means somethinig to the effect of WORK HARD! When it started I was a little anxious, and although I danced, I was in the back of the group and didnt shout as others did. Then every 30min or so the dancing stopped, and everybody drank as much alcohol as they could before it started up again while I drank a lot of calpis (a sports drink). The enthusiasm people had was contagious, and after about an hour, I was at the head of the group shouting SORE! and was doing the dance with all the flare of an old man I saw who later passed out from too much Sake.

During the last break, I offered to hold the group's sign for the leading woman who was quite noticably tired. She thanked me and asked me to hold it the remainter of the festival. Before I knew it, I was the the standard bearer, a big 6ft fan with kanji characters in bright colors telling who the group was. I must admit I felt as though I were six years old again, and I was leading a marching band in a parade. I really got into it.