Bon Odori 2008 ( 12/07/2008 )

Hello, im back and finally posting after such a long and inactive posting in my blog wish i regret. I havent been updating it cause well, im not that free to update it and i kinda forgot about o_0 Zomg yes, i forgot about mah blog, til some big event like the Bon Odori was happening. Well, off we go! (I’ll post the rest of the pictures later below, cause im only gonna post bout the food and settings as i talk)

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On the 12th July 2008, at Matsushita Corp Stadium, Shah Alam, Selangor, is where the Bon Odori is held every year, normally on a saturday though im not sure if its ever on the same date, but i doubt it is. Well, I consider it my first time going for it, after my last trip “on the way” i was in an accident, which till now have made me hate any green myvi cars. Yes, Green Myvi. *pulls out a gun and mows down a passing by green Myvi* Ehem, back to my review, feeling and stuff. If your interested to know what Bon Odori is all about, check out this wikipedia link to Bon Odori.

Wow, thats all i can say, without screaming omgwtfbbqsaucehaxfunzor1337nessoffun. According to a close friend of mine, the festival starts at 7, well the dancing anyways, So normally around 6 is the time everyone eats and relaxes and stuff.

I went with my college friend and his friends, a total of 4 together, and we arrived roughly at 5.30, to find the place packed with people, busy walking around, snapping photo’s, thinking which girl/guy looks hawt and much much more. As for me, the first thing i was thinking was Food, Snap some pictures, and moar food. >_>. As i walked around i was busy snapping several pictures of mostly girls in yukata (randomly cause i was chicken to ask them if they could pose and also that i wanted to create a sort of “people” eye view of the place as though they were there. First off is the food we bought. =D

Tis is what we managed to buy before we got slaughtered.

Japanese Curry with Rice, only Rm5 Lah!

Curry (カレー, karē?) is one of the most popular dishes in Japan. It is commonly served in three main forms: curry rice, karē udon (thick noodles) and karē-pan (bread). It is usually thicker, sweeter and milder than its Indian equivalent.

Onigiri = Japanese Rice Ball

Onigiri (御握り; おにぎり, Onigiri?), also known as Omusubi (御結び; おむすび, Omusubi?), is a snack of Japanese rice formed into triangle or oval shapes and often wrapped in nori (edible seaweed). Traditionally, the onigiri is filled with pickled ume fruit (umeboshi), salted salmon, katsuobushi, or any other salty or sour ingredient.

We got semi assaulted in this food war and left cause it was really crowded. The food was quite normal, considering they obviously cant offer you the expansive stuff cause they didnt have any fridges to keep them.

This is the stage that was set in the middle of the stadium.

After eating, roughly around 7, some japanese association person comes up the stage and gives a speech on how happy he is to see so many people attend this festival and hope everyone has fun. WOOHOO. It started with the drummers and japanese dancers going onto the stage. The drummers got to their positions while the dancers made a circle around the drummers and awaited for the music to begin. This was an excellent time to take several pictures (from 1 location >_>) of them in their yukata’s from the back.

The dancer

Dancer

Roughly 5 minutes after, an announcement was made, though i couldn’t hear much, but in my opinion, signifies the start of the dance. Youtube video that i recorded ish below! Sorry bout the crappy quality and talking, i was at a good spot recording and didnt want to move away from my good spot.

There was a total of 4 songs played that day. And we were asked to gather around in a circle and dance along with them. According to my friend, the 1st session was not as exciting as compared to last year cause there was less people dancing. (There is a total of 3 sessions though as you can see from a schedule i posted above/soon to post). There were a few groups forming circles outside from where i was recording, happily dancing away, following the steps the dancers did, all and all to have a good time there. I was thinking about joining them, till i remembered that i was recording it and couldnt just stop.

Roughly after 4 songs, each with different dancing pattern’s, there was a guest performance from several schools and stuff, mostly i could only recall Catholic High School. It was a guest performance by them. I did record the video (Will post it later). The guest performance wasnt really that good, considering i saw alot of mistakes being done but what the heck eh, it was nice.

After that i just went to take a sit down, to rest and stuff, as i talked to my friends. Since we couldnt buy anything else to eat cause nearly everything was sold out and it was overcrowded with people waiting in line, we left around the 2nd repeat of the dance and went to Subang Jaya to eat dinner, had ummmm Spagetti for dinner at around 8-9ish and reached home about 10. All in all it was fun and hope to go again next year.

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Here are some pictures i took that arent in teh post.

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A mother and her young daughter sitting on a picnic mat with a yukata.

A foreign couple dressed in a yukata.

A group taking photo's with several girls in yukata's.

3 Small girls in Yukata's. :3 I took this picture from the back though, cause i was walking around and casually snapping pictures all around and thought this three looked cute at the time.

And finalleh!

Ehem….

Friend's friend in a red yukata and meh. Yes me, no im not the girl btw. She's a friend of a friend that i just met.