Obon

This evening my mom, Matthew, Anna and I were out walking on the seawall and we heard a lot of drumming coming from a few blocks away. We had been hearing drums throughout the day but didn't know what was going on. We walked towards the drumming and as we got closer we could hear some of the traditional Okinawan music that we hear around here from time to time. We eventually came upon a large group of Okinawan kids wearing costumes, chanting and drumming on all different sized drums to the music. It was really cool to watch. The kids performed for a while and then took a break. A few blocks away we could see another group doing a similar performance, but moving through the streets like a parade. When we got home we did some quick online research and found out it is the last day of Obon, which I knew was coming up, but didn't know anything about. Obon, it turns out, is a three day celebration to honor deceased ancestors. I think it has Buddhist roots. Maybe the Japanese version of Dia de los Muertos? I wish I had taken my camera with me, but didn't, so I have no nice pictures of the kids and their performance. Oh well. Anyway, it was fun to experience that part of Japanese culture.