here, there, everywhere

On Saturday, we went with Yuka to her hometown in Ibaraki Prefecture to see the first day of the three day long Ishioka Matsuri, which is famous for its dashi floats (above) and shi-shi tiger dancers (below). It was a great night - I always have a great time at festivals in Japan and this one was especially fun; it's hard not to be in a good mood when everyone else is out in the streets wearing their festival clothes having a great time. So here are too many photos selected from the too many photos that I took - there'll be larger versions of these and more at my photoblog over the next few days.