Natsu matsuri! : )

Getting ready for the summer festival. Now, since I have a bunch of people reading from the states and I often get asked many questions regarding Japanese stuff. Let me just show a few pics and describe a bit about us getting ready before the actual festival. Now obviously this isn't necessary for any of you gals in Japan, so you all can just skip this first few paragraphs since it's probably stuff you, know already : ) For summer festivals in Japan, little girls wear yukatas. Best way I can describe a yukata, as easily as can be is, think kimono but without the heavy silk and such. Summer kimono. Think light thin, cotton or linen and beautiful and vibrant colors. And boys can wear yukata for summer festivals as well. But they can also wear jinbei's. Now jinbeis don't have to be worn just for summer festivals though. They can be worn anytime you want in the summer time in Japan. They are very light and very airy, so really comfy to wear. I searched high and low for Branden's "summer festival" jinbei this year I got it about a month ago and I was so totally happy to have scored such a cool one. I then took his jinbei with me in a bag, for a few weeks driving all over, looking for the perfect matching Japanese type flip flops, I really like the "setta" (sp?) ones.

This stitching for lack of a better word is on the sleeve area. Reason? Well, my hubby says it's for air flow. LOL. Japanese summers are well known to be steaming hot, so some fresh air is welcome. : )

I got his in a size, that he could wear this year, but he can also probably get away with wearing this one next year. I really hope so, because the quality of this one was just really exceptional. I pulled out all the stops on his summer festival outfit this year (and if he outgrows it next year, oh well, I'll replace it no big deal, but I hope he can wear this one next year though, because it's cool). Extremely high quality. And I am happy Noah will get to wear this in a few years time as well. : ) And what does my son think of his jinbei? He's a typical boy. He doesn't care in the least what sorta jinbei he has. Ha ha ha! : )

Here's the boys right before we left the house! Noah's jinbei was simple. He had the character from the NHK TV show here in Japan. Anybody know that dogs name? I forget. Wantan or Wanwan or something. Ha ha ha! And notice Noah is starting to do the peace sign in pics as well. Oh my gosh! Ha ha ha! Granted just a 1 fingered peace sign was all he could muster, but it's a start! : )

Aha, yes that is Noboru making hot dogs during the summer festival! What a wonderful husband and daddy, he is! He's awesome! : )

One of the games/crafts during the festival. Decorating a pom pom type thing.

The teachers put on a small skit for the kids. I wasn't really following the story of this skit at all. But I found it interesting to see them dancing around and stuff. Letting their hair down, so to speak. The kids loved it though! : )

All the teachers are all pretty nice. However my most, favorite teacher is the one far left. Wearing the green tee shirt and navy blue coolats (sp?), she is so awesome! She speaks to me all the time. In Japanese of course, but she is so friendly. She is always smiling. Never grumpy or anything!

All the kids watched the teachers give their skit.

Noboru's volunteer duties of "chief hot dog maker extraordinaire" was over, ha ha ha! And he was just holding Noah, chatting with a few dad's. And watching the kids dance! : )

You see that plastic white bag Noboru is holding? That is all the toys and water balloons and stuff both the kids won during all the games and crafts! Noah played 3 games and won a few toys and some candy.

Branden showing one of his buddies what he had just won!

Then he showed him, "you have to go like this", ha ha ha. How funny, huh? How these kids can get so enthusiastic over a 1 yen toy, they just won. Ha ha ha. Oh well, I smiled and let them enjoy the thrill of it all! Childhood is gone in a blink of an eye, so I let B "ohhh and awe" over his newest toy! That was forgotten about, by the next day, no doubt, ha ha ha! : )

Then the dancing started! The kids have been practicing all week long at school. : ) Notice the kid wearing Crocs? He was the second boy behind Branden (gosh I must know these shoes a bunch, since I even can tell he was wearing the color "celery" lol)! And I am kidding you not!!! About 10 kids wore Crocs during the festival! Seriously 10. Granted one kid was wearing fake Crocs, lol, doesn't matter in the least though really. But the rest were all wearing real Crocs. And many parents too! I know, Crocs are as American as Apple pie. In fact they come from Boulder Colorado. And I am *very* proud they come from Colorado, since I come from there (don't believe me, just flip a Croc and see the words, from, Boulder, Colorado stamped on them, ha ha ha)! Ha ha ha. But, seriously Crocs have hit Japan in a big way! They are so popular in Japan, just about everyone I know has a pair! They are probably as popular in Japan as they are in America! It's crazy! Ha ha ha! : ) And we all know, we are a Croc loving family ourselves as well. : )

More dancing! : )

And a clap! : )

Branden's so good at Japanese dancing! His hand movements and all! He really enjoys the summertime dances in Japan. And when he sees the teenage girls dancing at the big city festival. he always tells me "mommy don't you think they look so pretty and dance so nice" He really appreciates the artful dances in Japan! Whoever, he decides to marry in the future will have to learn these dances for sure! Ha ha ha. Wink, wink! : )

Boy, what a whole bunch of kids dancing!

And swing your hands this way, and swing your hands that way! Ha ha ha!

Many people really liked Branden's jinbei. I had about 5 different people at different points throughout the day, ask to take a picture of Branden, we said "sure, fine go ahead", we didn't really mind, I mean they were not like strangers or weird nutcases, they were people from the same yochien, so it was fine. Many people commented on it as well. They all really loved his aloha, hibiscus, jinbei, I guess, ha ha ha! : )

Branden and some of his buddies. They just love to all get together and play fight with each other. And do those "ultraman" fighting moves!

More dancing! Man, I'm going to have to go and make a few copies of all these "summer festival" pics, send a copy to grandma Mitsuko way over in Osaka, to uncle Jun, both my folks. Phew, that's a lot of copies I will be making this coming week! Ha ha ha : )

Last pic of the kids all dancing!

Branden flashing the "shaka sign", hey he was born in Hawaii. He's allowed! Ha ha ha and that's how most of our friends in Honolulu took pics when we lived there. Japan was the peace sign and in Hawaii, we did this! I got this off the net in case some of you don't know what that means. Although I am sure most of you know already! : )

The "shaka" sign is a common greeting gesture. It is often associated with Hawaii and boarding sports such as surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding. It consists of extending the thumb and pinky finger while keeping the three middle fingers curled, and raising the hand as in salutation. Sometimes the hand is rotated back and forth to emphasize the sign.
Hawaiian locals use the shaka for various meanings, like "all right", "cool", "smooth", etc. Residents of states other than Hawaii who use the shaka may describe it as meaning "hang loose". It is also used to convey what locals in Hawai'i call the "Aloha Spirit," a gesture of friendship and understanding between the various ethnic cultures that reside within Hawai'i. It can also be used to signal a "hello", "goodbye", " 'till next time", "take care", "Alright!."

Branden chatting up the ladies! Ha ha ha! Seriously 2 little girls like him. Have little puppy love type crushes on B. A few of the mom's told me at the school, "such and such likes your son", ha ha ha. I asked Branden about it and what he thought. First he's too young to like girls yet. But he said, one of the girls he likes because she's pretty and she's fun to play with and she likes playing with rolie polies/dango mushi, lol. But the other girl, he says, get this. She has too much hair on her arms???, so he isn't interested. Ha ha ha. OMG! What a silly/ridiculous reason! Boys, hmm! Ha ha ha : )

All his little yochien buddies, swim buddies and his pal he rides the school bus with as well!

A group shot of his class! : )

That's Genki-kun on the right of Branden right there! : )

If you see the banana box in the back. Well we had choco bananas. One of the fathers is a banana wholesaler. And so we got tons of free bananas donated to the school for the festival. Man were those choco bananas good! We had homemade cookies. Hot dogs, drinks and all sorts of stuff. But in this pic, here is Noah wearing his Anpanman mask. Anpanman is a Japanese cartoon hero, who is actually made from bread/pan stuffed with beans, I think. : )

Here's Noah-chan, wearing his Anpanman mask, enjoying the summer festival. And if you look closely you can see the little white dog with green ears on his jinbei, that's a character from a Japanese kids TV show here in Japan that Noah watches and likes! : )

Branden wore the Mickey mouse mask! The kids got the masks from the school today! : )

The festival ended around 5:30 pm. We came home since it was on the way. Everyone went to the bathroom. We checked the house, all looked fine and we were on our way for supper within 5 minutes of stopping by the house! We went to the Hard Rock cafe in Narita. It's fairly close to where we live, so no big long drive or anything which was nice.

We were seated right below "Ringo Starr's" shirt! Now, I know everyone knows who Ringo is. Beatles obviously! And I love the Beatles, so I loved sitting there! Ha ha ha! : )

Ringo's shirt. Something of Elton John's was on the booth next to us. I wanted to take a better peek, but I didn't want the nice Japanese family to think I was staring at them or anything. I wasn't. I just wanted to see what was on the wall. : )

I've been to a few Hard Rocks in Japan before (besides the ones in the mainland US, I've been to and Hawaii and Guam). The one in Ueno is very cramped that's the worst in my opinion. The seats are all like smashed together. We were like 1CM away from the next table. Too close for comfort. We've been to the one in Osaka that is gone now. And the newer one in Kobe, I think. And it was very nice. Not cramped like the one in Ueno is. But the one at Narita is very nice too. Not too cramped at all, not even a bit. Very open seating. Which is why I clicked this pic. No sardine feeling here at the Narita one! We will be going to this one again!

The boys eating their kids meals. : ) Chicken fingers for Noah and cheeseburger for Branden! : )

The waitress asked the kids, was it their summer festival today? Branden told her, yes it was. : )

Noah, eating his meal! : )

I had the sizzling chicken fajitas. And yes they were sizzling in that silver pan as they came out. Everyone heard them and turned around. My cheeks turned bright pink, because it was my noisy fajitas causing all the commotion. Ha ha ha! : )

Noboru had the special. It was a trio. A Japanese style chicken sandwich (not karaage or anything), a shrimp sandwich and a cheeseburger and fries. You know what? I watched both kids and held that bag of toys won, from the festival all day long, while Noboru was working the festival. Then we switched and I worked the other half of the festival and Noboru had to watch both the boys and lug that bag of toys around. The kids had an utter blast at the festival. And actually both Noboru and I both had a lot of fun during the festival as well, because it's nice to mingle and be social with other parents and friends of our kids. With everything being such a success with regards to the festival. Being at the restaurant was sorta our reward. Job well done for us today. Time for Noboru to tell me all the funny stories and stuff he encountered on his part of the festival and then I shared my funny silly stories about what I was doing at the same time. It was a nice summer festival and a wonderful dinner. : )

After our delicious dinner at the Hard Rock, we strolled through the mall a bit. Noboru bought me a new pair of Crocs! I have a black pair already, have had them for well over a year now. But I've been wanting a girlie girl pair. A pink pair. I knew I didn't want fushia, nor did I want the cotton candy (lightest pink color). I wanted the straight pink. Just pink. Plain pink, if you will. And now I have them! Yippy! Thanks honey! : )