Soba Cafe YuAn

I went to Soba Cafe YuAn with my wife the other day.

Soba noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or in hot broth as a noodle soup.

We ordered two dishes of chilled soba, sweets, a cup of tea and a cup of coffee.

Chilled soba is often served on a sieve-like bamboo tray with a dipping sauce on the side.

Cold soba is very nice for lunch especially on a hot summer day.

Obon Festival

We had an Obon holiday last week.
My company gave us one week paid leave from August 12 to 16.
Obon is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors.
It's said that the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars during this season.
Many people visit their ancestral graves and make offerings of flowers and incense during the holiday.

I've had a rather quiet week; I went to a forest and brook park, restaurants for lunch, and Nasu highland for getting relief from the heat.

The festival ends with Toro Nagashi, or the floating of lanterns. Paper lanterns are illuminated and then floated down rivers symbolically signaling the ancestral spirits' return to the world of the dead.

Yukata Go Well With Matsuri

Many young Japanese girls love to wear traditional clothes, 'yukata' in summer festivals.

Yukata are kind of summer version of kimono.

Kids are wearing 'happi' or straight-sleeved coat in the second and third pictures.

Happi are also traditional clothes to festivals in Japan.

Miya Matsuri Summer Festival in 2013

It's a Miya Matsuri summer festival today and yesterday. 

Many people came to the center of Utsnomiya city to watch kids' dancing, marching bands, kids' ballet, a lot of genres of musical performances and carrying mikoshi by young guys.

Kids performances were really enjoyable.