Festival Fayre

Anyone fancy a practically raw egg yolk with mayo on a pancake wrapped round a chopstick?

It's Tokasan Yukata (summer kimono) festival weekend in Hiroshima. This is for me the best festival the city has, if a harbinger of the humid sweaty days just around the corner. Practically the whole city gets dressed up in their colourful cotton yukatas and hits the city centre to promenade with their family or loved ones, catch a few goldfish, and enjoy a little "yatai" food from one of the stalls which line the major streets near the Tokasan Shrine, where they head to pray for luck for the coming year.

You truly see some amazing sights in the streets at this festival, both human and supposedly edible. I wasn't quick enough last night to capture any of the human extravaganzas as I only stopped by for half an hour at the end, but will perhaps try again tonight. Let's just say if you have an image of demure young Japanese maidens shuffling along hen-toed in their geta with their eyes downcast, you have quite another thing coming!

Anyway, we have in recent years always gone as a family, or with good friends to this festival, but this year the friends have returned to Blighty, and the girl who these blips are supposed to be about decided she'd rather stay at a friend's house than do the festival this year, so in her absence, you get glistening hashimaki!