A Few of My Favorite Things:
Fry, Tekiya, Games of Chance and the Japanese
Summer Matsuri
Weaving my way though the yukata
clad crowd allowing the grilling aromas to fill my nostrils.
The air was hot and sticky. Like it always is
here on a sizzling August night in Tokyo.
Lets back track for a minute so you can catch up with
me. It's summer here in Japan, and summer festivals
are in full swing. Countless festivals take place
across the country, ranging in size from tiny neighborhood
get-togethers to ones that bring entire cities together.
Typically they fall into one of 4 categories, fireworks,
Bon Odori (folk dancing), centred around a religious
Shrine or Temple, or one of the newer styles such as
a Samba festival in the heart of Tokyo. Whether
its attended by hundreds or hundreds of thousands the
mood is pretty much the same.
Back to the steamy streets of
my festival. Heat rises off the ground as sweat
rolled down the back of my neck. The Bon Odori
stage is 3 stories tall toped off with a series of Taiko
drums, just like a cherry on a sundae erected out of
steel pipes and huge red and white cloth. The
different teams of dancers lead the crowds in a series
of set moves. Like that of country line dancing
except that the lines are circular, and instead of cowboy
boots and jeans, most wear straw sandals and Yukatas.
The folk music comes blasting out over a PA system and
the Taiko drums add a thick layer of BOOM to the music.
The crowds follow the team dancers and kick up dust
in circles around the tower, but all this dancing
and shuffling has left me hungry and craving something
icy cold to take the sting of the hot night away.
This lead my stomach to my favourite
part of the festival the street vendors. They
whip all kinds of tasty little tit-bits on skewers and
run sleazy games of chance for the young ones.
The Japanese version of the carnies, Tekiya, run all
the booths. They are related to the yakuza, and
must pay some tribute to the local boss in order to
ensure a hot spot to put up their booths or else be
vanquished to the fringes of the festival. Heckling
the cute girls in their matching Yukatas and bags, egging
on the youth who try to catch goldfish with a paper
net before it melts into nothing, these are the faces
of the Tekiya. Some of their faces show years
behind the sizzling grills, others youthful girls with
dyed blonde hair serving up shaved ice with candy coloured
syrup. The stalls light up the night sky.
Hues of red, orange act like bug zappers, pulling in
all the customers to their stalls. I can't resist
any longer and I happily wait in line to get a piece
of FRY. Yeah that’s right, fry. It's
a simple concoction of flour, water, a little seasoning,
flash fried and slopped with a sweat soy sauce.
UMMMMM good. Its hot oily goodness slides down
my throat and is good news to my growling stomach.
All these colours swirl in my
eyes. The booth lights, glowing led necklaces,
all blur into my mind's eye. The charcoal grills
roast up the night even more. Cotton Candy waifs
pass me. A deep breath brings all the smells winding
there way down to my stomach The long hot days,
the longer steamy beer fuelled nights and tasty grilled
bits in the bottom of my gut, these are a few of my
favourite things.
