Summer Festival Season -Yosakoi Icchorai Dance (Yosakoi style dance in Fukui)-

As I introduced in our previous blog that one of the main events in the first day of Fukui Phoenix Festival is Fukui Phoenix Fireworks, which will be held on August 3rd, 2018.
 
On the second day of the festival (Aug. 4th, 2018), you can definitely enjoy watching Yosakoi Icchorai Dance (Yosakoi style dance in Fukui) which is very popular among foreign people as well. It starts at 15:45 and ends at 21:20. 39 teams will be competing.

I asked a few foreigners who like the Yosakoi Icchorai Dance the reason why they like it so much. Most of them have said that they like it because the costumes are bright and colorful which catch the eye. They also have mentioned about how the aggressive type of music and the energetic dance are very exciting and overwhelming. One of them also said that the female dancers who wrap themselves with cloth called “sarashi” look very cool as well.


The video was taken last year (2017) at Fukui Phoenix Festival during the Yosakoi Icchorai Dance event.

The dancers had the bright and colorful costume waving a tall and large flag and shouting something in Japanese (I think they were saying “let’s go” or something like it). Their powerful synchronized dance was really overwhelming.

The Yosakoi Icchorai Dance started in 1999.
The members of the youth group of Fukui Chamber of Commerce learned about Yosakoi Soaran Festival which is a mixture of Hokkaido’s Soran Bhushi folk melodies and an energetic dancing event based on the Yosakoi Festival of Kochi Prefecture. The members of the youth group of Fukui Chamber of Commerce wanted to start a similar event for local residents to participate in the Fukui Phoenix Festival.
This was the start of Yosakoi Icchorai Dance.

There are only two rules and they are very simple.
The dancers must dance with “Naruko (clappers)” and they also must have phrases of Fukui’s Soran Bhushi folk melodies in the music they dance to.

If you have a chance to visit Fukui during summer time,how about enjoying the Yosakoi Icchorai Dance?

T.F

Drone school

I give lessons at the spacious ski slope of Karigahara ski area in Katsuyama City.

Practicing 'Compulsory flying' with the mark on the ground.

Since I've been using drone for taking videos, I became an instructor of drone as well.

Although it is often misunderstood, there is no so-called 'public license' to manipulate drone, and in principle anyone can fly one.

However, for safety reasons, there are restrictions on places where you can freely fly it. Whether it is a hobby or a job, if you want to fly at a certain place, you need to receive 'permission / approval' of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

And I give lessons to get this permission / approval.

The lessons are held on applicant's preferred dates on a one-to-one basis.

People with various professions came for various purposes such as aerial photographing, surveillance, inspection and so on.

It is one of my pleasures to hear the stories of those people.

T.S

Recommendation of fancy Japanese-style restaurant in Fukui City “Kaika-tei sou-an”

The “Kaika-tei sou-an", which is the annex of a long-established restaurant located in quaint Hamamachi Street. A famous Japanese architect, Kengo Kuma designed it and its appearance which is covered latticed wood is very unique and modern-looking.

That is a restaurant to visit on a special day. A friend asked me to celebrate her birthday at the “Kaika-tei sou-an”, so I could visit the other day for the first time in years.

In a quiet and sophisticated atmosphere, I could enjoy the excellent meal and drink, which was such a luxurious moment. (H.S)

The latticed wood is a moderate screen from the outside. It looks cool and calm especially during the summer season.

                    Dynamic summerlike flower arrangement at the entrance

                     Appetizer ‘Sea urchin tofu, water shield, young corn’

   Soup ‘Conger pike with green tea and arrowroot, red and white thin noodles’

                         Grilled dish ‘Tilefish with XO, spinach sauce’

                     Special dish‘Grilled Japanese beef with white miso souce’

                       Rice dish ‘Steamed rice topped with eel, miso soup’ 

Summer Festival Season -Fukui Phoenix Fireworks 2018-

Summer festival season has arrived.

It’s time to enjoy fireworks, festival foods, music, dance, etc.

One of the highlights of summer in Fukui is Fukui Phoenix Festival.

The festival will be held from August 3rd to August 5th, 2018.

Many events will be held in the 3 days at many places in the center of Fukui City.

 

Since Emperor Akihito is planning to abdicate the Chrysanthemum Throne next year,

it’s the last Fukui Phoenix Festival we will have in Heisei Period

(Heisei Period is 1/8/1989- will likely end on 4/30-2019).

 

The first Phoenix Festival was conducted in the 21st year of Showa Period (1946) by

Tasaburo Kumagai, the 10th mayor of Fukui City.

 

He had 2 purposes of having the festival. First, they wanted to pray for the war dead.

Second, they wanted to encourage and cheer up the citizen of Fukui City

to reconstruct the city.

From Fukui Phenix Fireworks, July 2015

 

The venue of the fireworks festival is by Asuwa river bank upper Kida Bridge and

it is about a 10-minute walk from JR Fukui station.

If the streets become crowded with many festival-goers which happens every year,

it might take longer than 10minutes, though.

 

During the Fukui Phoenix Festival, there will be many festival food stands and

the game stands such as yo-yo scooping, super-ball scooping, goldfish scooping,

cork shooting, etc.

All these stands will be opened around Fukui station as well, so before going to

see the fireworks, they can enjoy them.

 

The firework festival starts at 19:30, and about 10,000 giant fireworks are shot in an

hour expressing 6 scenes such as grace, popping, colorful, happiness, bonding, brilliant

with music. I’m sure you can enjoy it.

 

When you have a chance to come to Fukui during summer, how about experiencing

Fukui Phoenix Festival and the fireworks.

 

T.F

 

The 65 times Fukui Phoenix fireworks *You can change the language in the website

Gion Festival -One of the Three Major Festivals in Japan-

Gion Matsuri (matsuri means festival), the festival of Yasaka Shrine in Kyoto is one of the three major festivals in Japan. The other two are Tenjin (Osaka, Tenmangu Shrine) and Kanda (Tokyo, Kanda Myojin Shrine) festivals.

 

 

Gion Festival is held during the entire month of July (July 1st-July 31st) every summer.

It has over 1100 years of history, and many people from all over the world visit the festival every year to see the gorgeous floats.

 

You can check the schedule of the events of Gion festival from KYOTO CITY OFFICIAL TRAVEL GUIDE.

Main events are Saki-matsuri (early festival) and Ato-matsuri (later festival) in which Yamaboko Junko (the parade of decorated festive floats) is conducted.

 

 

Saki Matsuri (early festival)

 

Saki Matsuri (early festival)

 

Hashibenkei Yama (The float of the famous tale of the powerful and undefeated monk-warrior Benkei, and the child prince Ushiwakamaru) ByThings to do in KYOTO

The Saki-matsuri (early festival) was conducted on July 17th this year, but festival-goers can still enjoy the Ato-matsuri (later festival) which will be held on July 24th. At the Ato-matsuri, the Hashibenkei float leads a van of 10 floats.

 

 

I visited Gion festival for the first time last year (2017) from July 15th-17th. The streets, which are usually very busy during the day, were temporarily closed to vehicle traffic for the festival. There were many food stands and many festival-goers, and the streets got extremely crowded. It reminded me of the countdown at Times Square in New York on New Year’s Eve. That’s how crowded it was.

 

I saw many events in the town.

 

 

There were Maiko with beautiful kimono participating in the festival. Even people living in Kyoto hardly ever see Maiko, so this was a rare experience.

 

 

Even after it got dark, I saw many people walking around the town.

 

 

On July 16th, as I was walking in the town, I saw some floats in the middle of town, being ready for the main parade for the next day.

 

It was very hard for anyone to walk through the town because there were long lines of people waiting to get on the floats. Although the floats were gorgeous and amazing, I couldn’t spend a lot of time watching them because I wanted to get out of the crowd and the heat.

 

There are many things that you can enjoy at Gion festival in Kyoto, such as gorgeous floats, beautiful traditional music and many events throughout the entire month of July. It is worth visiting!

 

T.F

Beer garden in a shopping street’s square “Shinsakae Beer Park”

The beer garden where you can drop by easily was opened in a wooden deck square “Shinsakae Terrace" in Shinsakae Shopping Street in the center of Fukui City this year as well.

It’s attractive that they cooperate neighboring 16 restaurants and can send out for varied multinational foods.

It is an open space that you can feel the pleasant night breeze. I think it’s good for an after-party, too. (H.S)

The wooden deck has an atmosphere of summer.

Moderate outdoor lighting

It’s closing time.

Indonesian restaurant next to the square
Of course, you can order food of the restaurant.

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They are open on Fridays and Saturdays (6 p.m. to 10 p.m.) until August 11th.
When you order a drink, you need to order one dish at least. 
Closed on rainy days

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Ladies' tresses blooming over the grass yard of Starland Sakadani (Ono City, Fukui Prefecture)

I was not able to focus precisely on ladies' tresses flower with a smartphone.

Of course, Starland Sakadani is famous for sunflower fields at this time, but yesterday I was also attracted to the ladies' tresses blooming all over the grass yard.

Unlike sunflowers, this flower is treated as weeds, but it also tells steadily of the arrival of summer.

It's attractive to watch carefully the adorable color and its geometric spiral shape.
Incidentally, in Japanese, this flower is called "Nejibana" (spiral flower).
T.S

Starland Sakadani in full view
A lot of ladies' tresses were in bloom in the central square.
At the bottom of the photo is a sunflower field.

Of course, sunflowers are also in full bloom.