Golden Week 1

It's Golden Week, that first week in May when the Japanese take some time off, travel abroad, domestically or just stay home and relax. I'm a follower of the latter. Today I pottered around Utsunomiya and ran across a festival almost in my own back yard. (If I had a back yard. Which I don't. Thank God.)

Anyway, I was on my way home, on a route that I use to get from one side of Utsunomiya station to the other. There is a park along this path and lo and behold they had a festival there today. Food carts were out, kids were playing, there were bands and local celebrities on stage and even one of those ubiquitous "characters" that you see everywhere here.

One thing that I like about festivals in Japan is the attitude toward alcohol. There is an assumption in Japan that when you drink in public you do it responsibly. There is none of the roped off areas separating adults from kids here. It's so ...normal. Liquor and drinking laws just seem so much saner here. I love it.