Bon-Odori is actually the name of a traditional dance which is danced during a certain celebration called the Bon festival celebrated in Japan. Obon or just Bon is a Japanese custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. It has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars.
As Obon occurs in the heat of the summer, participants traditionally wear yukata, or light cotton kimonos. Many Obon celebrations include a huge carnival with rides, games, and summer festival food like watermelon.
Sounds so pro but actually it's cheat one. Just copy and paste from google only. Hahahaha but I also heard from some of my friends who love the Japanese culture that Bon Odori is also like the hungry ghost festival. Only it's Japanese. So maybe if you have a third eye you can see Japanese ghosts. Foreign ghost leh. So cool. Hahahhaa
In Malaysia, Bon Odori has been celebrated annually for idk how long because google doesn't state it. And this year, I finally went! Finally because I've heard about this 2 to 3 years before this and never had the chance to go. It was on the 20th of July at Stadium Matsushita, Shah Alam and I'm only blogging about this now wtf. Here's the Facebook page if you want to take a look >>>>> BonOdori FB
Camwhoring in the car. Who doesn't?
Ze high wooden scaffold made especially for the festival is called a yagura. Yeah the stage like structure. Remember this. More on it later on
Pastel hair!!! *pukes rainbow* it's so beauteepul O.O
Surprisingly many people wore a yukata there. It's so nice and elegant! Oh but I also remember seeing 2 girls wearing those sexyfied version where there's a humongous slit for the legs. I know la like that easier for you to walk and you want to show your not-so-sexy legs, but please respect the traditional wear. Kimono and yukata is a sweet and polite piece of clothing. Please wear them as it is.
And there's also many many Japanese little kids running around. They're so cuteee! Even when they argue :D And there's also many Japanese families ie the father, mother and kids. So if you're into the culture and language, you'll be fighting the urge to test out your speaking skills. I know because that's how I am when I spot Korean tourist in front of me. Although I can only say the extremely common word everyone knows like 안녕하세요 annyeonghaseyo and 감사합니다 kamsahamnida and 사랑해 saranghae. Hahahhaha damn super excited now blogging about this. I know I have a serious case of mental illness.
Next! What you'll find there! FOOODDDDDD! People say food is an international language on its own. Boy, do I agree with that! Hahahhahaa If you love Japanese food like sushi and bento and raw fish and teppanyaki, this is the place to go! Pricing... about the same as anywhere else I guess? There's also a few other booths/tents that sell local food like nasi lemak and such but I mean, you're here for Bon Odori! Immerse yourself fully into the Japanese culture and celebration la! I guess some people just don't like Japanese food gua. And no doubt, Malaysian food sold there is also cheaper la.
Other than that, there's also a few Japanese companies promoting their products. Like they gave out freebies! OMG i sound like an aunty now. Grab all the free stuffs!
Koala's March had an adorable mascot. Imagine how many degrees is in that costume *shudders*
Xin Yu with Mr Koala
Me and Mr Koala. I look so short. I mean wayyy shorter than my actual height ><
Lemme promote this product for a little bit
Inside a packet of Koala's March
Bite-sized cookie snack by Lotte
A small hole to put in the sweet fillings. Mine is strawberry fillings (you can see that by the colour of the packaging right?)
The
filling comes in various flavors, in Malaysia, I think it's the usual
3, milk, strawberry and chocolate. In other countries like Japan, you
get honey, cafe latte, pineapple and banana and also white chocolate creme-filled chocolate cookies.
Koala doing various activities
What you can do with a box of Koala's March >>> see video below
After dinner, (I had unagi bento!) I had
"We aim to bring the potong experience forward with every handmade popsicles using only the 100 % fresh natural ingredients with a modern twist on flavors with no preservatives or any other horrids.
Our mission is to create gourmet pops in seasonal flavours for folks to rekindle their favorite childhood treat, The Potong."
Price : Below RM10? I can't remember how much exactly I paid for them during Bon Odori Here are some of ThePotong outlets, (could be more because they're probably expanding) Publika Solaris Dutamas (UG floor, next to Proactive), Wondermama (Bangsar Village I), Delectable Treats (Paradigm Mall and Pavilion KL) and Frontera (Jaya One).
There you have it people! The Potong! Hahahhaha I had Watermelon Fizz and it was really good. Very refreshing and I could tell that there's no artificial colouring. On a hot day like that day, it was really nice to have this popsicle which is so different from the ones I used to have during my primary school days. That time, the 30 sen popsicle is super sweet and full of colouring made by a Malay couple selling them outside my school. It came in many vibrant colours and left my tongue with bright colours. Ahhhhh those were the days.
View of Stadium Matsushita during Bon Odori 2013! Throngs of humans
Me and Shuw Jinn
Chung Wei Jian/driver of the day and me
We went there and met up with some many other friends and then sat down together for dinner and after that we split up in smaller groups and danced a little bit, and spent a whole lot of time trying to locate one another before we leave. I also bump into a few old friends along the way. Remember the yagura I talked about before? The yagura is usually also the bandstand for the musicians and singers of the Obon music. Some dances proceed clockwise, and some dances proceed counter-clockwise around the yagura. Some dances reverse during the dance, though most do not. At times, people face the yagura and move towards and away from it.
At one point, the drummers were hitting the drums, calling the dancers I suppose, and then the music begin and many people make lines around the yagura and everyone danced in unison. So at first when I'm watching these people dance I thought it looked really silly but then when I got dragged into it, I realized that it was actually very fun! The Bon Odori fan comes in handy during a part of this dance and there's a part where you hold hands with people beside you and walk together? Hhahahhaha it's a new experience holding hands with strangers. And me, being such a slow learner, I keep getting them wrong like going in front while the rest backs up, going left when the crowd goes right and such. I moved like a stick. So very awkwardly and unnaturally. Then you can spot people who danced flawlessly, they're either Japanese people or people who loooves the Japanese culture and come to this festival every year or learn them from Youtube.
After the dance was over and when the crowd dispersed we finally get to take picture with the yagura
Teh Hui Yen aka the brains
With Jessica or ah Yen
#polaroid of Chung and Jinn. They look cute together right?
The nicer polaroid of Yen and me. Oh well at least I have this picture of that picture. Doyougetme?No?Nvm
A group picture in polaroid! Should have had the guys taken a picture with a phone as well :'(
One thing everyone looks forward to - Bon Odori official fan
Boxes of fans stacked up on top of each other because everyone brings home extra for their friends and family. The organizers know that. So Malaysian of us. I brought home 20 of them as well :P
