A late Happy New Year

Life in Taiwan has been flying by. It has been interesting, rewarding, and very yummy. It's been so busy that I really haven't been keeping up with writing. So in a very late entry, I will post some pictures of the Lantern Festival out in Taipei.

The Lantern Festival traditionally marks the end of the Chinese New Year holidays. I had never celebrated it before, but it seems to be a pretty big deal in Taiwan. Out in Pingxi, thousands of people trek into town to participate in the release of sky lanterns... huge white lanterns written with the wishes and hopes of the New Year. As the lanterns heat up, they gently float up the night sky in a brilliant display. I wasn't able to go this year, but it's definitely on my list for 2018.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, there is the Bee Festival down in Yanshuei. Thousands of firecrackers are lit and fired into a crowd of people, who are all covered from head to toe in home-spun protective gear. Apparently, being hit by a firecracker will bring you luck... that is, if you don't first sustain burn injuries! The pictures I've seen of this event are insane, and I can't imagine being in that crowd!

In comparison, my own Lantern Festival experience was very mild. I wandered out to Taipei, where there were light shows, floats, and a myriad of lanterns on display. The mood was festive but mild, even with the huge crowds of people. In the end, it was very nice to partake in a bit of this local culture, especially since Chinese New Year was never a huge thing while growing up in the states.

It's the year of the rooster. Guess which animal popped up again and again? It's like... there's a theme or something!

One of the streets was decorated with strings of light. It's kind of
amazing how something so simple could create an atmosphere
that almost felt magical.

A large area was reserved for all the lanterns. Obviously, in this modern age, everything is lit electrically... no
unintended fire hazards here!

Some of the lanterns were made with recycled materials... this
pretty bird is made up all of plastic bottlecaps!

Chickens chickens.... it's the theme... (whoa, evening pictures = blurry pictures)

I'm not sure what this display meant... lots of ants crawling
on box-like structures...?

Another chicken! The globe-like 'eggs' that he is surrounded by
are actually plastic cups! I believe that this was one of the
student entries. Pretty good, right?

Another student entry; this time an abstract one. It looked really cool and impressive in person.

Part of the appeal of being in Taiwan is the interesting combination of both the familiar and the new. So many of my childhood celebrations and events are represented here, but done in a way that is new to me. It's both comforting and thrilling, all at the same time. :)

Cosplay!

(Viewing, not participating in) :P

Ooops, so I just realized that months have passed since I last wrote. My time in Japan is coming to an end soon, so I promise to write and update more! I have lots of travel in my near future, but in the meantime, I will try to cram in a few more things in this crazy lovely country.

Of course I can't leave Japan without viewing one of its most notorious pastimes: cosplay! Every year in Osaka, thousands of people dress up as their favorite anime/video game character for this one day of fun. It was cool to see the details that went into all the costumes, and I was pleasantly surprised to recognize some of them!

I can't believe I actually recognized this! Trio from Cardcaptor Sakura!

No idea what this one is, but looks really cool.

A character from a really popular girls' anime series,
Pretty Cure.

Yuna, from Final Fantasy X! Not a minute later, I saw a
guy in a Tidus costume one block away. I wonder if he
was looking for Yuna? :)

This looked super familiar. I want to say a character
from Tenchi Muyo??

Can you believe that people actually drive around in cars with these decals?

Yokai yokai yokaaaaaiiii watch ee ee!

The enemy has been spotted! Where's Solid Snake?? Dressed up as this
cute little girl?

Oh, here he is. Silly Snake, you don't fit in that box!

I wonder what anime these girls are from? 

Lightning and Vanille, from Final Fantasy XIII. The
costumes look really good!

A snapshot from the other side of things; I was standing behind a
 very popular cosplay girl. Slightly creepy, no?

Cammie, from Street Fighter

So kawaii!

Awwww! It's Cloud! And Aerith! (Even though we all know that Aerith's
true love really is Zack Fair.)

Don't know what anime she is from, but she is
rocking the outfit!

Ness looks like he lost a lot of weight, maybe he's homesick?
Where is Poo??

This was a crazy event, spanning multiple blocks and consisting of huge crowds. It eventually got tiring to be fighting through the streets, but I'm sure there were even more interesting and cool costumes to be found. This was like the Halloween parade in New York, but even better because all the costumes looked to be really well-made. I'm glad I got to see all this!

Futon Daiko Festival

To celebrate the Harvest Moon, there's a regional festival that takes place every year in the town that I am staying in. To my surprise, it's a quite popular and large festival! It's called the Futon Daiko festival, and it takes place at the Mozuhachiman Taisho here in Sakai. On a beautiful sunny Sunday, I decided to check it out.

Although much of the festivities take place at the shrine location, the actual Futon Daikos are carried around town at different times. A quick search tells me that there are around 13 of them. This is how the city website describes it:

About four meters high and weighting about three tons, the Futon Daiko consists of a platform with a taiko drum, on top of which are five overlapping layers of vermillion cushions. About 70 people carry the Futon Daiko, with their unique shouts of "bera-bera-bera-sho-shoi" mixing with the sound of the drum as they proceed through towns. Afterward, the drum is dedicated to the shrine.

The Futon Daiko coming down the street. 

It's huge! It must be really tiring to haul this thing around.

Aw. here's a mini Futon Daiko, being carried around by kids.

And here's a Futon Daiko at rest, next to the shrine.

There were also a really big market set up on the shrine grounds, with food and game vendors.

Strolling through the stalls

Lots of vendors set up around the shrine grounds

This one sold all kinds of fruit dipped into melted sugar

Lots of stalls had games set up. In this one, you can catch little crabs to
take home. In others, you could catch fish.

I got some fried chicken to nibble on. I don't know
what it is, but Japanese chicken is always so tender and
juicy and flavorful!

And, I got a shaved ice. This was like... the opposite of
the snowy flake ice in Taiwan, This was 'barely crushed'
ice. :P Still, it was tasty on a hot day!

There were so many people at the festival!