My First Yukata

Next week Kamogawa is having a huge Matsuri (festival) in central Amatsu and I was told that this festival comes only once every 20 years!!! The festival is called the "Shikinen Torii Gihikisai" and is part of the rebuilding schedule of a major shrine. Instead of building shrines out of eternally lasting materials such as stone or metal, It is common to use natural wood in Japan. This is is an incredible sight as it allows the passage of traditional Japanese crafts down to future generations. The rebuilding of the shrine is never skipped and it gives people a great reason to celebrate! The meaning of this particular part of the festival involves rebuilding the "Torii" or shrine gate and for 3 days, the community in Kamogawa will carry around the tree that this Torii was made from all over town. I feel so lucky to be in Kamogawa at this time and I am going to take this festival as an opportunity to take a big step forward in Japanese culture immersion. Its coming up this weekend! Are you ready!?

The festival that comes once every 20 years is here! 

Come to Kamogawa and experience the fun and excitement!

Still in Tokyo, I decided to visit Ameyokocho before I return home and scope out the yukata market (Traditional Japanese matsuri outfit). I visited many small shops before deciding on this amazing purple yukata. The older lady at the shop was very helpful and showed me many yukatas and even helped me try them on! I asked this sweet old lady for her opinion and she gave me very honest answers and told me that some didn't look that good on me. We then found "the one" and she said it looked sutekiiii (wonderful!) and matched it with the perfect obi (belt)! I couldn't wait to put everything on, but I had planned one last dinner before coming home so I had to make haste. I went to grab a final meal with Yu-chan at this small pizza joint in Akasaka. On the way there, I saw stairs.... with a screen embedded inside of it O_O and I also saw a huge outdoor concert that appeared to be by the TV company TBS. They even had an idol group performing, just out in the open in front of Asakasa station... on a normal day - amazing! The pizza place had many traditional Italian flavoured pizzas and we ended up settling for the Genovese pizza (a pesto flavour) and a Gorgonzola pizza (this is a unique cheese and is very delicious). They gave us a small side of honey for the Gorgonzola pizza, which I found quite strange until i tried it on top of the pizza and my mind was instantly blown. It was so delicious and I couldn't believe that it was only like 700Y (about $6 USD). This trip was eventful and I returned home with a full belly and a new yukata. I was so excited so I tried it on as soon as I arrived home~ (Took a while to figure the obi out... but as long as there is youtube, there is a way!)

What is this sorcery...or why is it even there LOL

TBS girls performing right in front of the station!

Pizza time!!! Genovese and Gorgonzola with honey OMG 

Can't wait until the festival comes!!!