pre-"Nebuta Fest"

Aomori Prefecture: Site of the famous Nebuta Festival..AND low and behold, the site of the ONE and ONLY MINNESOTA license plate I will ever see in Asia! I was shopping @ a thrift store, when I noticed this beautiful little piece of "home" just tucked away between tons of manga (comicbooks).

It's a small world!

A few words about Nebuta...

There are a couple of theories about how Nebuta came to be. One is that an army general created these intense, scary-looking faces to terrify the enemy. The other is that its origins are in the Toro (or latern lighting part of Obon Festivities). The Nebuta characters were thought to scare away evil spirits that could return during the Obon Holiday.

Ironically, Nebuta means "drowsiness", but falling asleep during it is impossible! This festival is one of the BEST and BIGGEST festivals in Japan, drawing TENS OF MILLIONS of visitors each year to Northern Japan.

While enjoying some great shopping and sampling the local food fare, I also had the opportunity to check out a 'jamisen' performance! The musicsound was so "ethnic"! It sounds very "Middle Eastern-ish". This guy was rockin' out to some Neil Young and Black Sabbath after performing the traditional Japanese tunes. Nothing like listening to a jamisen-ized version of "Free Fallin'"!!

The Nebuta-style is modeled after old Kabuki characters and famous military generals. The faces are unique and offer an interpretation of the artist's values and beliefs, giving each Nebuta a personality of its own! It's a theatrical festival, lots of dancing and taiko and full audience participation (in none other than "Samurai" garb!!!). No one "watches" this festival,

everyone is out there making it happen!

eLEcTriFyiNG