Golden Week, Concluded!

At last, the final installment of WR's "Golden Week Adventures!"

________________________________________________________

GOLDEN WEEK ADVENTURES.  
Dontaku Festival: A City-Wide Celebration of Music & Dance.

It was a beautiful Saturday, on the second weekend of 2013's Golden Week.  The sun was shining, a just-cool-enough breeze was blowing, and it was a perfect day for my Japanese hometown to be hosting the famed, 800-year-old Dontaku Festival.  [Click here to learn about the festival, from the website of the area's best English guide and magazine, Fukuoka Now, and click here to see more pictures and read about the festival from the Fukuoka Prefectural Tourist Information website.]

Now, to be honest, I didn't know much about the festival before I actually went.  I knew it would be a big event (the newspaper reported festival attendance at nearly 1.5 million people).  I knew there would be a huge parade, involving many dance troupes and marching bands.  And, well... I assumed there would be plenty of delicious food on sticks.  (I mean, that's the real reason I go to these things, right?  Right.)

Okay.  So, rewind a few days.  Before the festivities started, I caught sight of this sign over the subway station near my school.  It red, it says "Hakata Dontaku."  And I started to get exciiiiiited.  (Festivals are just about my favorite thing in Japan.)

Over Chiyokenchoguchi Station.

With the festival inching ever closer, plans were made.  Times were set.  Maps were marked.  And, on that gorgeous Saturday I met a friend (a new April-arrival JET) at Hakata Station.  Our plan was to walk the long route from Hakata, through Nakasu, ending in Tenjin where we could find a spot and watch the parade as it followed on our heels.

At first, I was a little concerned about not being able to find the "action" of Dontaku.  But, the moment we stepped out of the front doors of Hakata station... my friend and I ran into mascots.  True-blue, Japan-style mascots.  There was a flurry of activity, parents furiously taking pictures of their children with the big, foamy beasts.  And of course... being curious gaijin, we had to get in on it.

Fukuoka Festival... cop?

For the second mascot, a different young Japanese woman took the picture for us.  But, she accidentally bumped the "video" button and took a video of us, instead of a photo.  Tee hee hee.  She kept asking, "Daijoubu desu ka?" ("Is it okay?")  I told her it was fine because, really, it's just funny.  For your consideration, 1 whole second of video, showing three grown adults posing together:

And, no.  I have no clue what that is.  A koala maybe?  Uhh... a mouse?

Mascots thoroughly harassed, we continued on our Dontaku journey.  We walked through Nakasu, an island-like neighborhood which is famous for neon lights and Fukuoka nightlife (seen here).  Here are a few photos.

Nakasu, along the canals.

Festival-goers, on the bridge.

Food stalls over the canal!

On the other side of the canal, we came to Chuo Park, where we found row after row after row of food and game stalls (HOOOOORAY!).  We partook in some yakitori and butaniku as we browsed the shops and their Dontaku-themed wares.

Yakitori!  Yattaaaa!

My friend tried her luck with a chocolate covered, cutely-decorated banana.  She was hoping it would be a frozen banana, but it turned out to be a room-temp-to-slightly-warm chocolate covered banana.  Meh.  It was sweet and on a stick, so it can't be all bad!

That's one good looking nana.

After eating, we wandered over to a nearby stage, where elementary and middle-school girls were performing energetic J-Pop and hip-hop dance routines.  We stood and watched for several minutes.  It was super, super cute.

Get it, guuuurls!

Then, we crossed the park and found that we were in the shadow of the famous ACROS building in Tenjin.  It was my first time to see it in real life, so I had to snap a few pictures.  (We even caught sight of people scaling the outside of the building!)

The greenest building in the world!

A busy day, a beautiful building.

Then, we made our way to the end of the parade route and found a spot to watch the soon-to-be-approaching parade.  As you can see below, it was croooowded.

People, people EVERYWHERE!

But, after some careful shuffling, we found a decent spot near the last bend of the parade.  We saw dozens of dance acts, marching bands, music-inspired floats, and a smattering of random Disney-ness (because Japan loves Disney).  My absolute favorite part of the parade?  The kindergarten marching bands and drill teams.  Yep, kindergarten.  Tiny instruments.  Tiny flags.  And a teeny-tiny drum major marching out front.  Kawaaaaaiiiiiiiiii.

Here they come!

ADORABLE.

After the parade, my friend and I had some coffee and continued our wandering through Tenjin.  We came across several small stage, where separate dance exhibitions were going on.  There was quite the range in dance styles on display, from semi-traditional Japanese dance (seen below) to cougars line dancing to hip hop music, while having American flag bandanas hang from their back pockets.  (I would've taken a picture of that last one, but I was laughing too hard).

Dancing near Nishitetsu station!

To finish the day, we ate delicious tonkotsu ramen.  Mmmmm.  My favorite.

Was Dontaku Festival busy?  Sure.  Was it crowded?  Definitely.  But it was fun and lively, with great food and music everywhere you looked.  Best of all, it was a wonderful way to finish an already-glorious Golden Week.

Thanks for reading, everyone!  And don't forget to feed the fish!
WR