Today marks the last day of the 4-day long Tanabata Star Festival here in Hiratsuka. My new apartment is about 2 blocks outside the main area of mayhem, which is better than can said for Tracey's apartment, where she's had the joy of listening to a generator chugging and awful karaoke from the stage set up outside her window.
Typically, I try to avoid Tanabata, and in the past Ana, Damien and Julian have been my accomplices in escaping to somewhere else, usually the Narita Gion Festival. But this time I decided to stick it out here. Mostly because I took a trip to Shimoda last weekend and with the Borneo trip coming up, money's a bit tight.
Thursday was the opening day, and since the crowds were smaller, the decorations newer and the stench of rotting garbage not yet overpowering, I hit the streets with various people and consumed large quantities of Japanese carnie food. And beer. Which led to Friday being a quiet day at work. But then the weekend came with a vengeance and we hit the beach for a BBQ. Edwina (in the cowboy hat) makes fantastic cookies and killer BBQ sauce. This was the alternative to the day swarm of people inside the festival area. The beach was really quiet. It probably had something to do with the intermittent rain that would sprinkle down suddenly and then quit just as we would make a move to cover things up.
The weather held, the food was good, and I have a major hangover from the festivities. All in all, a good way to celebrate a star.
In other news, I've commented most of the photos at my flickr site so you have some reference to what you're seeing. Enjoy.
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