Tonight was
the very last summer festival in Sugamo for the year. Earlier in the
day we had noticed them setting up the taiko drums and lanterns and
decided to come back in our yukata to take part in the celebration. Erin
and Ian both joined us for the celebration. Despite yukatas still
taking a beastly amount of time to put on (and I’m certain we’re doing
it wrong) and the weather being far too humid for black and dense
fabric, I had a lot of fun.
We stuck around for around forty
minutes of dances... all of the teams were great, especially the finale
that consisted of only three dancers; their movements were so fluid. I’m
completely envious of people who can sing and dance. There was an old
man there who invited us into the ring to dance with them, but I
politely declined as it was hot, my already bad rhythm would have been
even worse in my geta (Japanese sandal) and there was no way I was going
in alone!
It was
nice to be able to go to a celebration like this on Nicky’s last real
night in Sugamo, as tomorrow she moves out to Hamadayama until we both
leave for Kyoto. I can’t complain about the commute though, as 30
minutes by train isn’t terrible, as we used to be apart by over 300
miles!