Chinese Lantern Festival

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Davidiiiieeeeee! :) I miss you!

After spending most of yesterday recuperating from my awful cold/strep throat/flu type sickness, I was happy to get out of the house today.

In the afternoon, Tom and Alex came by to pick me up to head downtown for the Lantern festival.

After a quick lunch at my favorite kaitenzushi place (where Tom’s pile of dishes was almost as tall as him..), we made our way to the Chinese park where there’s a gorgeous display of lanterns.

Actually, it seemed like all of downtown was decorated for this festival. The popular Hamanomachi arcade ('arcade' being what we would call a strip mall back in Canada):

China town:

Teachers at my school had told me that the ‘Maso parade’ was one of the highlights of the festival, and not to be missed. So we hung around, waiting in the crowd for the parade to arrive. It was a very solemn parade, not one I would wait so long to see again. Perhaps expectations were a little high?...

In midst of all the lanterns, there’s an enclosed area where crowds were pushing and shoving to get closer. Behind the glass, you see the following:

Pigs with their tails stuck in their mouths! Yum yum!

While waiting outside one of the many temples we went to visit, a lady approached me and said ‘Michelle? Are you Michelle from Seiryo high school?’ I turned around and didn’t recognize the lady. I was racking my brain trying to figure out if I should know who she is…it turns out she’s Shimansaki sensei’s mother! She recognized me from the purikura pictures we took at the dinner a few days ago… what a surprise it was to meet her! I ran into quite a few people I hadn’t seen in a while, including Lucas. Sometimes, Nagasaki has the feel of a really small town...

Later in the day, we met up with Shimasaki sensei and headed back to the Chinese garden to see the lanterns lit up. There was a dragon dance that was going to be starting in a short while, so we hung around waiting. While waiting for the show to start, we entertained ourselves taking pictures...

Alex sporting Shimansaki sensei's tuque.

The dragon dance was much more entertaining than the previous parade!

Tom with one of the lanterns in the shape of a monkey…they could be brothers!

The lanterns looked especially beautiful when lit up at night!

It was a fun day spent downtown, but I was exhausted when I got home...!