Hiratsuka revisited

Trip Start Jul 04, 2006
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Trip End Ongoing


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Saturday, July 14, 2007

I ventured south by train to Hiratsuka, past Kawasaki, Yokohama and Fujisawa, to the place I first visited last July during my first weekend in Japan.

This small city is the site of a well-known Tanabata Matsuri (festival). It is a beloved summer festival in Japan and the colorful decorations, music, people's moods and the excitement over seeing it all, experiencing it all, is felt by thousands.

These photos are intended to represent some of that feeling and show how the Japanese celebrate Tanabata in Hiratsuka. (I'm not sure what's the difference between Hiratsuka's celebration and the bigger, bolder Tanabata Matsuri held up north in Sendai in August, but I'm told it's a super spectacle, too.)

Last year, I visited Hiratsuka on a Sunday afternoon and left to return to Tokyo after the end of the festival's final day; this time around, I was there on a Saturday and saw the full display of decorations and bits and pieces of a drum show -- and the long lines and kimonos, they were everywhere as well.
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