I love the Summertime even though it's crazy hot all day and all night. It's still my favorite season. I always have memorable summers. Last summer I was in LA and Turkey. This summer I have been going to the beach and working a lot. Last week I saw the fireworks and soon I'll go back home for a two week vacation. I love my life so much.
Last weekend I went to Tokyo with my friends for the fireworks! I think I mentioned that I got a Yukata as a present. A yukata is little bit like a kimono but it's light and cool for the summer. My friend Namichan tied the back because I couldn't do it by myself. Excuse the cell phone bathroom picture. I actually don't have any other pictures of myself in a Yukata. (I was too busy watching the fireworks and taking pictures!)
A yukata is easier to put on than a kimono and easier to wear once it's on. I felt a bit cheesy wearing it because I think that while Japanese girls look elegant and gorgeous in Yukata, Western girls look a bit like tourists. But it was a present and all the girls I went with were wearing one. Once I got to the river, it was so crowded that nobody looked twice at what anyone else was wearing anyway. It was fun. My roommate made my hair into a bun.
Going to see the fireworks is a Summer tradition in Japan. In Japanese, they're called Hanabi. Japanese fireworks festivals are huge events and go for a long, long time. This one lasted for about an hour. I thought the finale had come about ten different times. My friend Yosuke knew I was coming, so he did all this research for me about the difference between Japanese fireworks and Western American ones. I didn't know there was a difference, but the ones in the picture above are Japanese. This festival had both American and Japanese fireworks, but the finale was all Japanese. Here's a good
Japanese fireworks site.
After the fireworks, my friends and everyone else became really funny and crazy. A million picnic baskets came out and everyone ate sushi and chicken and had drinks. There were thousands of people there, no exaggeration. I have really funny friends. A bunch of the guys decided to have a dance contest on the grass.
Yosuke called this playing around "Wabi-Sabi" and it was really difficult to understand what he meant. It's a difficult concept and my Japanese isn't at the level where I can understand unfamiliar explanations like that. He doesn't speak English, so I had to look it up when I got home. That's Yosuke with his girlfriend NaimiChan in the picture.
Now I think I know what he meant. From my understanding, "Wabi-Sabi" is a sort of fleeting beauty, a little like a very deep nostalgia. It's a Japanese aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. I learned about "Wabi-Sabi" in a design class I took at university, and we learned that the rough idea of it is fresh, beautiful, simple, natural and imperfect. If you know more about this term, please teach me.I think it's wonderful that there is a term in Japan that encompasses that feeling. For me, that is the feeling I get at the end of every Summer.
PS. Random Walk, the best foreign bookstore in Kansai, closed down their Kobe branch. Last year the Osaka branch closed down and now there's only one left in Kyoto. So sad.
