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Japan Matsuri

September 20, 2009 By danyul Leave a Comment

Audience watching the main stage, Japan Matsuri 2009

Saturday 19th September 2009 saw 30,000+ people descend on Spitalfields Market for Japan Matsuri – London Japan Festival 2009 to celebrate 150 years of Japan/UK relationship. We live in the midst of a large Japanese community in the Ealing area of London and with Mrs danyul being Japanese and MiniMe being half Japanese we joined the crowds along with nearly everyone we know from the Japanese School London. We were not sure what to expect at the Japan Matsuri since it was the first to be held in London but we had a great time amongst the very large crowds.

Did I mention the crowds? It was packed! The official web site mentions that they expected up to 15,000 people but there were more than double that number on the day. Thankfully we played it safe and decided to each lunch before we left just in case the food stalls were busy because boy were there some queues for the various food stalls. Our intention was to grab some snacks as we walked round but after bumping into friends as we arrived we were soon warned not to bother with queues as they had waited up to an hour to get their lunch. The crowds were also mentioned on this londonist review and it was the theme of conversation for weeks for everyone we know who attended.

However, don’t let the talk of crowds put you off from attending the already planned 2010 Matsuri because I am sure it is going to be even better than the 2009 event. We joined the crowds from Liverpool Street station, where we could already see quite a few people dressed in traditional Japanese Kimono, and then started to wander around the event. There were people dressed in traditional Japanese clothes, there were people dancing, there were stalls of food and other goods, there were games to play, in fact there was plenty to do for everyone. It was also a fantastic opportunity for us to catch up with people we hadn’t seen for a while because nearly everyone we knew from the Japanese community was there.

Japan Matsuri 2009

Sadly we missed a drumming display from MiniMe’s old Japanese nursery but we did get to watch the Akido demonstration and also what seemed to be a singing competition. There were also various other stalls all around the market and although we didn’t buy anything (those crowds again!) we still had a great time looking at everything and picking up some business cards for the items we liked.

So we will be back in 2010 and we would like to thank all those involved in setting up such a wonderful event. Hopefully next year there will be even more stalls and they will spread out into all the market areas. I know I am very biased but it would be great to see a karate demonstration from JKAE in 2010 as well.

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Japanese Summer Festivals

July 13, 2008 By danyul

Anpanman (アンパンマン)

Every July the two local Japanese yochien’s (nursery schools) hold their summer festivals nearby to where we live in Ealing. First up is usually the yochien where MiniMe attended for several years and they hold their summer festival on the Friday while the second yochien usually hold their summer festival on the next Saturday. MiniMe dresses in his little kimono style Japanese outfit for his yochien summer festival and Mrs danyul is roped into help with all the other mothers on one of the stalls. I get the pleasure of attending as a non-helping parent and I am ‘forced’ to drink the free beer along with the other fathers (it’s a tough life!).

The summer festival consists of various food stalls and play stalls for the children with the yochien kids allowed to go around all the stalls before the festival opens to the general public. When I arrive Mrs danyul is busy on the drinks stall while MiniMe sits eating some of the festival food along with his yochien friends. All the yochien children then perform a traditional Japanese summer dance, which is always great to watch, while all the parents watch with beaming smiles and busy video cameras. Us parents have to order our food in advance and we then get a chance to sit down as a family and eat before taking MiniMe around the games once more before we help to clear up and celebrate another successful summer festival.

Vikingman

The next day we are joined by some of my family to attend the second yochien summer festival, which is also very nearby. This festival is substantially larger and has some commercial stalls as well as mutliple food stalls, games for kids, and a ‘second hand stall’ that Mrs danyul always like to raid for the books. We always invite my family for this event since it really reflects the traditional Japanese summer festival and there are some great good stalls scattered around everywhere. MiniMe always goes for the Japanese curry and the noodles, which are washed along a hollowed out bamboo poll system where you have to grab the noodles as they pass with your chopsticks. Although my family have more ‘English’ taste, they always like to get into the swing of things and try all the food.

The children who attend this yochien also perform a series of traditional Japanese dances and there are some dancing events for everyone, children and adult, to join in. With prizes for the best children and adult dancing, MiniMe is always in the thick of the action busting his moves.

Japanese Summer Festival

The festival concludes with a raffle full of prizes donated by local Japanese firms and also some very large Japanse companies. The top prize is usually a flight to Japan from ANA (All Nippon Airways) but unfortunately we’ve never won anything from any of the raffles. I would settle for one of the bags of rice let alone one of the larger prizes but with so many people attending and so many tickets purchased, the odds are always against us.

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A Festival of Fete

July 10, 2008 By danyul

It’s the summer fete season in the local schools so we have taken MiniMe around to see the English schools before the Japanese summer festivals take place this week. First up was the ‘Summer Global Village’ at West Acton Primary School.

West Acton Primary School is one of the many schools that we visited as a potential school for MiniMe before we moved to the Ealing / Acton area.

West Acton Primary School Summer Global Festival

Summer Global Village at West Acton Primary School

West Acton is very popular with the Japanese community as it’s close to where most of the families live and has a fair number of Japanese kids attending as the parents want their children to learn as much English as possible during their 2-3 year stay. The ‘Summer Global Village’ event truly reflected the multi-cultural makeup of the children and we had great fun sampling food from all parts of the world. MiniMe had a great time on the bouncy castle, eating candy floss, and playing with all the Japanese kids.

Montpelier Fruity Summer Fete

Fruity Summer Fete at Montpelier Primary School

Next up was the Montpelier Primary School ‘Fruity Summer Fete’ which was much more of the English style but also much more of a disappointment. MiniMe loved the football game but unfortunately the guy running the stall had absolutely no interest in being there and was quite insulting to any kid of was not wearing the football shirt of the team he supported. There was also a bunch of young kids inside trying to hit random people with a football then shouting out “sorry” whenever they managed to hit someone.

I suppose that’s a fairly common attitude in young kids but it was actually their parents cheering them on and encouraging their kids to smack someone in the head with a football.

So that’s the first of the English events for the year and next up we have the Japanese summer festivals.

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