I returned home recently from a long drive with my family, and as we got out the car we could hear a rhythmic drumming and the faint sound of a traditional Japanese song. A quick search for the source of this sound and we found the local ‘Bon Odori’ festival in a nearby park.
The colorful lanterns that surrounded the central square platform provided a pleasant ★ambience and friendly feel to the festival, and I quickly remembered how much I enjoy these events. As is ★customary, several people dressed in traditional clothing stood on top of a small tower banging two large drums in time to the traditional music. Many of the local residents had come to celebrate the festival; some were dressed in yukata and jimbei. When they formed a circle around the central platform and began to dance, my family and I joined in. People of all ages were dancing and enjoying themselves, and there was a real sense of ★community spirit. At the end, my children were given a small gift by the festival organizers. It was a lovely evening.
These small community festivals that are held throughout Japan help to maintain tradition and ensure that future generations understand older customs. From a foreigner’s point of view, these simple community events provide a contrast to other countries where such customs have sadly been lost over time. I look forward to next year’s ‘Bon Odori’ and may even wear my jimbei!
As I always say, I like beaches and being in the sun very much, and I really enjoyed my vacation in Hawaii last month. However, today, I would like to write about a little painful memory of it with the hope that this terrible event will never happen to any of you this summer.
When I go to the beach, I usually don’t put on any sunscreen or oils, especially for these past few years, and I have never had any problem with it or even thought that anything might happen to me. So, this time also, I didn’t take anything with me but a small towel to protect my face. Yes, I do not like getting a suntan on my face.
In my opinion, ★chilling at the beach is the best way to spend time in summer, so it was not easy to pick up on the fact that I was not sun tanning but sun burning myself badly for the whole time I was there. Can you imagine that you can’t even walk from too much ★swelling? My legs were extremely hot, turned blood-red and I could hardly bend them.
This could be the worst travel experience of my life, but I’m already healed physically or, should I say, mentally, so I decided to write this blog to tell you all about the risk and hopefully I can put this event behind me.
P.S. I won’t give up going to the beach but I will make sure to put sunscreen on★going forward.
イギリス人のお父さんをもつ5歳の男の子が、先日”Let’s play catch! Do you like baseball?” の質問に“I’m not keen．．．” と答えました。Do you～?と聞かれたら、Yes, I do.かNo, I don’t.で答える、と習う私達日本人ですが、「あまり好きじゃないんだけど．．．」と少し丁寧に断るこのI’m not keen…も使えたらステキだな、と思いました！
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