 |
 |
Pacific Beach Hotel Natsu Matsuri Festival, a closer look
Aloha!
8/26/11 - Fun fun! I love a festival of any kind, and even more so, a traditional one. And you can always identify the really traditional ones when there's lots of elders involved. Don't you just love seeing the kupuna out enjoying themselves? The old folks, they've been through things we couldn't even imagine in this day and age. I mean, the majority of these ladies prancing around the stage at the Pacific Beach Hotel's Natsu Matsuri and Obon Festival 2011 were alive during WW2! Yeah, they were only kids, but still had to live through the abject poverty and extreme hardships after the war, when their cities were destroyed and livelihoods decimated on a level few of us can comprehend today.
When they celebrate like this, can you imagine all the memories flooding their minds, of childhood festivals, of times past, of distant lands? I'm talking about how they used to celebrate before, when entire villages or towns prepared all year long, and when festivities came, they really came! Virtually everyone around threw themselves into the event! Must've been good times. Sweet times. Innocent times. I mean, don't get me wrong - I loved the Natsu Matsuri (Summer Festival)at the Pacific Beach Hotel in Waikiki this past weekend, but I wonder if occasions like these may be just a little bittersweet for the actual obon dancers (at least the ones of age)? No? When they think of how big the festivals were in their childhood Japan, and how just about everyone in the town passionately prepared and celebrated together, sometimes for days, do they long for something a little more real, a little more pure, with a bit more passion and spirit, and without all that modern commercialization stuff, as in, say... how it was before? I dunno. Maybe I'm over-romanticizing. They sure did look happy out there, and I'm sure they were all extremely thankful for the opportunity of re-living the same festivals as their childhood days. When it comes to certain things, though, it is hard to compete with the old days. My father always said it, and I'm sure I'll be saying it more and more the older I get. Heck, I suppose my nieces and nephews will be saying it in time one day, too. That's just how it goes.
But no matter what generation, a celebration is a celebration, and it's always fun fun! Kids, especially, need these kinds of things as they grow up, and I was just happy they were able to come out and enjoy the festivities!
We made it all into a giant weekend slumber party, cramming into a few rooms and enjoying the Waikiki scenes by day and by night. The pool at the Pacific Beach Hotel isn't that big, but if we didn't pull them out periodically to eat and de-prune their fingers, they'd have stayed in all day!
And don't forget - this Natsu Matsuri Festival we're gonna see more of is going on tonight (Friday) through Sunday for the last weekend, so do check 'em out! You won't be sorry! There's lots of good food, live entertainment, games for the kids, and a snack and trinket store pushing masks, yukatas, and blinkie light hats to wear, all of which were refused straight-out by our gang of rascals. Much too cool for that, you know. Didn't stop me from wearing blinkie lights on my head all night, though!
The food was excellent for both adults and kids, and pretty much what you'd find in any Japanese festival. I don't know a single kid alive who doesn't love a good bowl of noodles, in this case, a really good yakisoba:
Okonomiyaki, the popular, savory Japanese pancake (sort of!), comes in different forms depending on the city. The two most popular are Hiroshima-style, where they use yakisoba noodles much the same as you see above, and Osaka-style, which I prefer much better. Osaka-style consists of lots of cabbage and a mix of any number of meats, seafoods, and other vegetables like pork, beef, shrimp, scallop, sprouts, carrots, and more. All of these are bound together by eggs and a batter, forming the rough shape and execution of a pancake, almost:
Good stuff!
There were all kinds of ono grinds here, and not just Japanese foods. There were hotdogs, corn dogs, onion rings, even chocolate-covered bananas!
The biggest station was dedicated to grilled items, from cedar planked salmon and prime rib to corn, red potatoes, yakitori chicken, huli huli chicken, and shrimp:
From 5:30pm, there was a constant stream of entertainment and activity to work-off all that food. One night there was a group of beautiful tutu's in muumuu's playing ukulele as well as a soloist that might not have been Jake, but he was pretty darn good. Another night there was a few Hawaiian numbers, complete with a lovely hula girl:
But being a Japanese festival, the two things dominating the evening were the bon dances and taiko drummers. Kenny Endo wasn't around, but this taiko band was top-knotch and to me, the highlight of the evening. Something happens when they start banging on those drums, lemme tell ya. You can feel the energy from each progressively stronger blow, each complex and synchronized movement, and each of the growing screams emanating from both the audience and band members. It really was an exciting performance.
And when the taiko sets are over, one or more of them remain on-stage, continuing to pump-out beats along with traditional Japanese music for hours straight while the brave jump out and bon-bon, bon-dance! I lasted about one round around the stage, but since I have two left legs and two left arms, and had more than two cups of ono draft beer, I bowed-out real quick. Actually, I was just pushing my sister-in-law to jump in because I knew she wanted to. Unlike me, she did actually stay out there!
Dance or no dance, it was a blast! Make sure you folks check it tonight and this entire weekend - you'll love it!
Take care, and Aloha till next time!
Aku
