Embark on to the Japanese Culture: The Higashi Ojima Matsuri

Japan is a land of 'Matsuri'(pronunciation: Ma-tsu-rii). It means 'festival' in Japanese. Though there are massive festivals in Japan, there are small ones in each locality as well. These matsuri signify the need for group cohesiveness. Friends and families meet up and enjoy together. Majority of these festivals occur during the summer; and one such matsuri is the Higashi Ojima Matsuri😄 

The Higashi Ojima matsuri is celebrated every year and is a popular festival spanning two days. Though it is a small matsuri, people throng all over from the neighborhood to take part in it. The festival has lot of food and games stalls along with a huge stage for dance programs .This was my first festival in Japan and I was super excited for it. In this blog, I will be writing on my experience of the matsuri.

I was elated when I learnt that a group of us Indian friends were holding a food stall in the matsuri!! The proceeds from our stall was to go for charity.  The menu for our stall included Tandoori Chicken, Beef Curry Rice, Chicken Curry Rice, Sambar Rice, Samosas and Mango Lassi. I was exhilarated at the fact that I was going to help cook these scrumptious delicacies. At 10:30 in the morning, our work got on underway.

With prior experience from my 'sandwich making business' and a hum at the back of my mouth, I sliced meat, chopped carrots and peeled potatoes. To put the icing on the cake, I was assigned to stack the mouth-watering tandoori chicken onto the packing boxes. I neatly arranged the chicken like the formation of soldiers during a march and by the end of the day, I realized that I has stacked nearly 400 tandoori chicken pieces into the boxes😎 I was thrilled and was appreciated for my work.

At around 4:30 in the evening, we headed out to the venue to begin the sales for our Indian delicacies. After setting up our stall, I decided to have a look around the Matsuri  and man, I was blown away!!

From different types of stalls to beautiful paper lanterns hanging above my head left me gaping away. When I checked out the dance programs, I was pleasantly surprised : there were a number of Indian dance programs and Japanese girls were dressed in Indian attire as well!! 

I tried various food items, each with it's own taste, but my favourite delicacy in the matsuri was the 'Kaki Kori' which is basically fruit syrup poured on shredded ice. Though it sounds simple, it is a lip-smacking desert and is amazing. My favourite game was the 'Super Ball Scoop'; in which by using a scooper with a paper type of net, we have to scoop out the balls(which are super bouncy!!) which are floating on water. I won four bouncy balls and was bouncing one of them to my heart's content just before writing this sentence😜

Around 9:00 in the night, a mega dance took place where in everyone who wanted to break a leg, formed a huge circle and performed a traditional Japanese folk dance. As there were only eight simple moves, many people joined in and it was super fun to watch the dance unfold.

To conclude this blog, I would like to present a quote on festivals :

The Greatness Of A Culture Can Be Found In It's Festivals

I strongly believe that this quote rightly sums up on Japan and the matsuri😃