I ♥ Hatsudai Awa Odori

I love Japan the most when it’s a public holiday. It seems like everyone agrees to put the frantic pace of life to one side for a day and act like they were born to indolence and enjoyment instead. I realise from speaking to students that they will have done five days’ work in three this week, to make up for the two holidays, but I hope it felt worth it on Friday morning. Tokyo woke up to a gorgeous autumn day and, as the sun went down, a group of friends headed towards Yoyogi, not far from Shibuya, for the Hatsudai Awa Odori:

The drums were loud and infectious:

They are also punishing to the drummers.  I saw one guy with hands covered in blood, still playing, laughing to his friends about the cuts.

Laughing because it was worth it, playing through the blood and dancing away any tiredness or aches and pains. Spectators lined the streets, letting the neat bags of empty tins grow bigger, ignoring the line between participant and onlooker, as the cool night air gave a promise of the winter chill to follow. What better way to say farewell to summer than with a final frenzy of dancing and music:

Hatsudai Awa Odori takes place every year in the early evening on the Autumnal Equinox Holiday in the streets around Hatsudai station in Shibuya-ku. (Various websites will have more information, usually all in Japanese but you may be able to translate them!)