Yanai Goldfish festival

On August 13, one of our neighboring cities, Yanai, holds the annual Goldfish Festival.  The festival starts at the train station and goes down the main street of the town.  The streets are beautifully lit up with thousands of goldfish lanterns made from washi paper and bamboo.  There is a "parade" of sorts complete with dancers, drums, and floats.  My favorite part of the parade is when they spin the floats.  They yell and run as fast as they can in a circle.  This year was the third year we attended the festival.  We were reminiscing how when we went our first time, we were so completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of people and the noise.  This year it just didn't seem like a big deal.  It is funny how we get used to things.

cute kids on the taiko drums

boys mesmerized

this was the "angry" fish

Peps and her water bottle