It didn't rain on our parade!

And even if it had, I wouldn't have let it dampen my spirit.

I was having too much fun for that.

My afternoon consisted of: waiting in anticipation with my co-workers for our turn to line up for the parade; carrying a lantern as we marched down the street; waving at the crowd along the way; a feast at the end of it, with the other City Hall folks involved in the parade.

All of it with a smile on my face.

In a way, the festival reminds me of the Indiana State Fair. Only there are no rides, no animals, no 4-H exhibits and everyone is Japanese. Ok, so really it's nothing like the fair!

But the festival this weekend was crowded with people, it's an annual event that people really look forward to and the smell of fried food lingered in the air. (So now you can understand how I get the "fair vibe.")

Oh, the festival food! It's definitely different from food back home, and yet much of it is different from what I see at the grocery store here. Of course I had to sample as much as possible! I enjoyed hanging out with the other ALTs yesterday, each of us buying and sharing different fried things with each other. Like the fair, if I ate this way year-round, I'd be 100 pounds heavier!

Here are a few pictures of some of the foods I saw at the festival this weekend:

Tofu on a stick! Next to it is "moshi," which is basically a rice ball, and I think it's bland. I passed on both. I've had plenty of tofu lately. Granted, it hasn't looked like a popsicle before!

The tofu on a stick lady is so cute!

And this guy is cool, too. Liz bought this, and we shared it. And even after eating it, I'm still not sure exactly what it is. I know the white stuff all over the top is mayonnaise though.

Squid on a stick. Sick. It didn't smell good, either. In fact, these look and smell just like the one I boiled! Brings back bad memories.

This looks pretty sick, too. Those are octopus tentacles you see oozing out. I didn't have this kind of takoyaki; I ate the kind where the octopus is hidden inside the dough.

A sliced banana dipped in chocolate and covered with sprinkles = yum! I literally just took this picture. This was my funky festival hair-do. (All the ladies in the parade had funky hair do's...and I saw some hair don'ts, too. haha)

I have plenty of other, non-food festival pictures. One day this week when I have the time (but not tonight because I'm getting sleepy), I might make an on-line photo album.

But now it's time for me to march on to bed! Sayonara.