chiba yosakoi

As I may have mentioned before, summer is yosakoi season, and now we're in full swing! Starting with a few events last month, now we'll have performances almost every weekend until the end of September (plus a few more in October and November).

Our events in July were both in Chiba, first a festival called Boso Daisakusen (or as I like to translate it, Operation Boso), and then the Funabashi Festival. In keeping with the team's goal of promoting yosakoi in Chiba, Operation Boso took us up and down the Boso peninsula, which makes up most of the prefecture. 

Our first stop was a small rest area (?) in Nagara, where (if I remember correctly) a local yosakoi team is trying to get more people involved. We only had a few teams performing and a pretty small audience, but it was a fun way to start out the day and I enjoyed seeing the other teams - there was one dance involving teruterubouzu, or little white figures with faces that people hang up as charms for good weather, and some adorable kids singing and dancing with them.

Next we went down to Shirahama, where I went last year for a Chiba-kun Ambassador's tour  , which also happens to be southernmost tip of the peninsula. They were having a festival called Maruguru, complete with a karaoke competition and lots of food stalls. Unfortunately we didn't get the chance to go up the hill to see the gorgeous view of the ocean there, but this time there were lots of people watching all the yosakoi performances and they seemed to enjoy it. :D

Our last stop was a shopping mall in Tateyama, where my friends from Sosa and Kamogawa came to see us perform! This was the first time I got to perform for people I know, so that was pretty exciting. :)

And then the next weekend, we performed in Funabashi's festival, despite some rain. My camera ran out of batteries so I don't have any pictures, but it was a big crowded event complete with floats/portable shrines, and lots of fun. I remember being really impressed because one of the teams that performed with us was actually a high school band, who even performed a few songs (with harmony and everything) - talk about multi-talented!

It's a lot of fun to travel to yosakoi events all around the country (we have another big tournament coming up in Nagoya at the end of the month), but it's also pretty great to be able to perform in familiar local places, too. :D