Somehow, I've been out of the loop lately.
Maybe it's because I haven't been around my Japanese classmates for about two weeks. Or maybe it's because I've been busy teaching English classes at FES to cover for my friends who are traveling for summer vacation.
For whatever reason, I managed to almost miss Sapporo's month-long summer festival in Odori Park, which began on July 21st and ends this Thursday.
I literally stumbled upon the festival on my way to Kinokuniya for some long-awaited magazine and novel perusing. With hundreds of people lounging around on the park benches and booths selling corn-on-the-cob and snow cones, I wondered how I had missed this in the first place. Daydreaming on the bus has its disadvantages.
As Jess had pointed out when the three of us and Yuki visited the Chizaki Rose Garden, the colder weather in Sapporo prevents flowers from blooming earlier in the season. Mid-August temperatures meant the park's flowers were finally in full glory, as you can see:
Nearest the central fountain, where toddlers in play clothes waddled around in the shallow water, booths that reminded me more of log cabins sold ice cream, chocolate-covered bananas on a stick, yakisoba and other typical, portable festival-type foods for about 200円 to 300円 per item.
Central fountain
Festival-goers lounging in the park
You can see some of the food options and prices here.
And, for my Hoosier friends, the cart selling corn. Even better, the Japanese have a nickname for the food product: とうきび, the short version of とうもろこし。At the end of Odori Park closest to the tower, a stage had been set up for a children's performance mini-festival. As far as I could tell both days I watched the children dance and sing, this was not a competition. Performers ranged from elementary school to high school students with talents in hip hop, traditional and pop music and dance.
Pictures can explain better than I can.
These girls imitated Girl Next Door's "Infinity" music video, colorful skirts, pop vocals and all.
This group, the Waves, still had pop vocals but included a hip-hop breakdance routine.
The following girl served as emcee, asking the audience to grab some soda samples from the event's sponsor, Calpis, and later sang Mariah Carey's "Hero." Yes, that's in the original English.
The final group performed another pop tune, but the costumes and elementary school sidekicks left me "trigger happy" with my Nikon D300. Just try not to grin or say, "Aww!" Just try.
And to think, I almost missed all of this.
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