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Rokko Island City Summer Evening Carnival That's the official name of the festivities, as translated from the sign at right. It has all the elements of a carnival, plus the elements of an obon dance, with a bit of a food fair thrown in for fun. |
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| This is a small tower around which the obon dancers will circle. The singers, musicians, announcers, 'callers' and special guests encourage them from the tower. |  |
| These are professional dancers from the nearby island of Awaji, which is famous for a special kind of dance and festival called the Awa-odori. |   |
| A few of Calvin's and Brian's friends, dressed for the occasion. |  |
| Michelle gets to wear her new yukata again. I don't know how she managed to get our cellular phone, but that's what she's got in her right hand. Note: cell phones are a great way to locate friends and family in a crowd as big as the one at the Rokko Island Festival (or the Gion Festival in Kyoto!). |  |
| Ahh, we finally see some genuine traditional festival food, yakisoba, or soba noodles fried and covered with a thick sauce. |  |
| That night, the kids bedded down in the living room -- in a tent. If you look closely, you'll note that B is not in the tent. At some point during the night, B crawled out and headed for his favorite sleeping apparatus, the couch. |  |
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