However for people who know Japan well--ranging from periodic visitors to...oh...crazy foreigners who keep finding themselves living in Japan...to Japanese people themselves---summertime in Japan means much more.
Summertime means, yes, humid and hot days, ranging from blazing sun to sheets of rain hurtling themselves from the sky.
Summertime means Semi (pronounced "seh-mee") --gigantic Japanese cicada--perched on any and all available trees and walls, shrieking their car-alarm chorus to the heavens.
And Summertime means MATSURI.
A "matsuri" is a festival. There are huge formal matsuri, such as the Gion Matsuri, held in the historically famous Gion district for a week every July. This crown jewel of Kyoto festivals--which dates back to the year 869-- includes huge human-propelled floats, music both pop and traditional, a wide variety of displays of traditional arts and crafts, parades and miles (or in our case, kilometers) of food stalls.
For us this year, the Gion Matsuri fell just after the kids and I arrived in Japan. So while we did try to join in the festivities, our enjoyment was short-circuited by a heavy cloud of jetlag.
Not so yesterday.
Yesterday was our neighborhood festival. Similar neighborhood festivals occur throughout the summer all over Japan. Some are larger, centered around a particular shrine or temple. Others, like ours in Murasakino, are much smaller.
All along our tree-lined winding street, food stalls, beer and soda filled ice buckets, charcoal grills and children's games were set up in front of shops, all undoubtedly sponsored and manned by the shop owners.
At 4:30pm, the official start time for the festival, people trickled, then poured out of their houses, ready to enjoy a summer evening of family, friends, festival food and beer. Younger girls, and some older teenage girls, wore bright summer kimono called "yukata", made out of light cotton and covered with flowers and designs in glowing colors. Men had long towels draped around their necks to absorb sweat. Children carried the spoils of their street game wins: water-filled balloons bouncing on elastic bands, bags of fluttering goldfish in water, candy, inflatable swords, and tiny bouncing balls.
As we walked along the street, we were first struck by the food and drink prices. When we visited the Gion Matsuri, food and drinks were pricey, especially for a family of four. Here, at our smaller neighborhood festival, prices were 50 to 75% lower than those at the Gion Matsuri. To our delight, we found ourselves shoveling out 100 yen coins, sampling favorite matsuri foods. And since a big part of any matsuri are the edible goodies, we enjoyed ourselves in fine style.
And what are matsuri foods? As with American county fair treats, a good number of them involve frying or grilling. However this is where the similarities end. Bob started out with grilled squid on a stick, followed, of course, by a beer. We sampled mitarashi dango, a family favorite consisting of pounded mochi balls impaled in 3's along a bamboo skewer, drenched in a sweet soy sauce glaze and then grilled over a charcoal fire. Beef and chicken sticks of grilled yakitori followed. All around us, however, were more and more foods that were too numerous to sample: slender iced Japanese cucumbers on sticks, yakisoba noodles, grilled hotdogs on skewers, takoyaki (the much maligned but very tasty 'octopus balls'), sticky, gelatinous sugar lumps on sticks that kids dunked in flavored sugar crystals and then ate, the summer heat causing the goo to drip slowly into their mouths.
For me, any matsuri visit was not complete without a cup of kakigori, for me the quintessential matsuri treat consisting simply of snowy shaved ice topped with snow cone flavors...in my case, strawberry ('ichigo'). And I will freely admit it....I had 2.
In my mind, the huge and famous festivals are certainly lovely, exciting and without a doubt worth a visit.
However, there is a lot to be said for finding a small neighborhood celebration, and taking a stroll and a taste. You may not see the flash and pomp, but you will certainly get a bit closer to the heart of everyday Japan.
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