But, it was still a pleasant weekend and an enjoyable festival. My friends and I got down there just after noon and already the lot was practically full. But we were fortunate to find a spot right away and headed for the shopping center. The stage for the event is always (At least the two times I’ve been there) right near the building, taking up almost the entire front lot.
They have a few food booths by the building and a few games here and there for the kids. The bookstore also tends to unload some of it’s older stock outside at fairly cheap prices. Though none of it was particularly interesting this year. Got a nice English Go book last year.
Since apparently the festivities did not start until 3:30, we headed inside for some shopping and food. Unfortunately, the Ramen shop I use to enjoy a few years ago had disappeared a while ago and the other shop’s Udon leaves something to be desired. But, they had a nice curry platter available which I helped myself to.
We also like to hit the grocery store and stock up on “essentials”. Given a distinct lack of good Japanese candy available in Madison, we tend to stock up when we make out quarterly trip down. It’s also the only place we know of that sells Tasty Curry, which does live up to it’s name. ^_^
So with a stop there, and a later one at the bookstore where I spent the other majority of my money on a Patlabor book and a magazine I got only cause it came with a figure, we ventured out into the sun to partake of the upcoming events. Fortunately, mother nature was kind this weekend and we had sunny skies all day long.
First up was a demonstration by Tsukasa-Taiko, a professional taiko drum group that I believe is located in Arlington Heights. I have to admit, I’m a sucker for a good drum circle and these folks, as they were last year, were amazing. I was able to get a few snapshots with the new camera until I hit my first snag of the evening.
The night before I had made sure I had everything for my camera, especially batteries. So, that day, when the batteries in the camera started to go, I swapped them out for my rechargeable ones I had in the case. However, it seems I made a crucial error and did not actually charge said rechargeables the night before, thinking they were all ready to go. So myself, and two of the guys who went down with me, ventured off in search of batteries, which, unusually enough, were not in stock in the entire shopping center.
Unfortunately, doing so meant we would miss the next demo which was the traditional dance by the Okinawans. Something they did not have last year. But eventually, I got my new batteries and we returned in time for the American Airlines raffle (Which I didn’t win).
After that came a Karate demonstration by Shidokan Karate. Kinda took me back to my brief days at a local tai kwan do dojo here in Poynette.
Now, the repeat performance by the taiko drummers signaled my next (And fortunately only other) snag. Seems I made an error in judgement, forgetting that rechargeable batteries are not always fully charged. So, when I tried to catch a video of the drummers (I have a small one I may upload soon), the battery light started flashing again.
Damn.
So, I ended up having to conserve battery power and swap batteries to get as much juice out of them as I could. A pain, but at least I got some nice photos in the end.
The Bon dance is the last event of the evening and is one everyone is invited to participate in. The store staffers pass out fans to everyone and encourage folks to jump right in. Myself being busy with taking pictures did not have a chance to join them (Which is my excuse and I’m sticking to it.). It was pretty seeing all the people in brightly colored kimonos dancing to the somewhat odd musical selection. Even got a few lovely kimono clad ladies on film.
In the end, we departed about half way through the dance and made our way back to Madison.
All in all, a fun event and one I will be sure to attend as often as possible.
Posted under Japanese Culture, Life
This post was written by Bob-san on August 10, 2008
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December 26th, 2008 - 8:39 am
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