Just two days after going to Kurama-yama, to investigate some possible Japanese connections to Israel, which all started because I photographed a "Mikoshi" in 2009, a "Mikoshi" came past my house. The reason it came past my house was that it was part of the Children's Day Procession. When I was young I used to ask my parents why there was no "Children's Day", thinking it was unfair that they got presents three times a year and us kids only got them twice a year. My parents would reply "that's because every day is Children's Day".
Well, Japan is a country which has recognised this problem and created "Children's Day" (which is on the day that traditionally is "Boys Day" and there's also a "Girl's day", but the only Public Holiday is on boy's day, so they call it Children's Day). Hey they even have a public holiday for grand parents (aka "Respect for the Aged Day") and "Adults Day", as well as Mother's Day and Father's Day. So I guess they've got everyone covered then!
So, when I heard the sound of this procession approaching I grabbed my little Casio and snapped this from my front yard (which is like one meter of concrete between my house and the road!). There were are few older gentlemen wheeling this Mikoshi (rather than carrying it like The Ark of the Covenant) followed by heaps of kids in Happy Coats. While I was taking some shots one of the older gentlemen gave me a bag of snacks, which I then shared out amongst my students the very next day (which is another very Japanese thing to do, rather than hoarding gifts to yourself).
Note 20/07/2011: The busy period for work is over for about 7 weeks, but I've got lots of admin stuff to do in the mean time, as well as a 4 day trip to Gifu and a few day trips planned. Hopefully I will posts a good few more PBLOGs over these seven weeks and update some of the other galleries with newer photos.