Friday, February 15, 2013

Melbourne Japanese summer festival

I was invited to attend this festival yesterday. It concided with the Chinese New year festival celebrations in the city and the Hawkers Market.

It was at Waterfront city in Docklands which is a great thing as Docklands in the past year hasn't attracted much business or visitors. In fact tourism in this area has gone down due to the Southern Star Wheel not being completed and the high prices of some of the eateries.

It was a nice sunny day yesterday and 000's of people came, some of which are locals, students and tourists alike. Some of which are Aussies, but most were Japanese.

There were lots of free performances on display such as the Bon Odouri dance which is a traditional Japanese dance. Everyone participated in the dance.
There was taiko drumming.



































There was a huge raffle at 4.30pm but not many people stayed for that. Most went home around 4pmish.

But the one that I saw was the cos play and sword play which was fun, but noisy. The costumes on display were really cute too.

There was heaps of food on offer but a lot of queues for the popular dishes such as yakitori and yakisoba. I had a yakitori ($2) and a small yakisoba ($8). But the lucky volunteers who made the event happen got their drinks and food for free.
There was homemade ice cream at Cafe Kikaru but there was a huge line for it.

There were lots of stalls. There was a kimono stall as well as a lolly stall where confectionery was 3 for $2. There was a Japanese magazine stall.

There were also games such as Balloon Yoyo and shooting games where participants won prizes. Games were between $2-$4 and were so much fun.

Many thanks to the Japan Society of Melbourne for putting on this event. I had a great time and if it is on next year I wouldn't miss it for the world.

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