Golden Week has come and gone (and gone), underscored by the incessant rain dismally signaling a return to work after seven blissful days of vacation. This is the exact same thing I said last year, except with perhaps a little less rain. Golden Week is a springtime blessing, a weeklong national holiday (more accurately, several [...]

Japan has so many festivals it’s impossible to keep track of them all. Hamamatsu’s Yosakoi Ganko Matsuri is no exception. Around the middle of March the streets downtown are closed to traffic and opened to 3000+ dancers from around the country. I’ve serendipitously stumbled across the Ganko Matsuri two times… the good fortune of deciding [...]

Golden Week has come and gone, with the finality of the festivities emphasized by a night and day of rain. Now that our headaches are gone, cobwebs cleared, and pants dry, I present you with some text and photos in a loose report of varying style. A brief summary of Hamamatsu Matsuri Golden Week is [...]