2016-07-17, Hikone Yukata Festival

I spent the morning looking for zouri (sandals that are worn with a kimono or yukata (summer kimono) for the festival.  Shioli's family lent me a yukata and we went together. 

 It was held on Castle Road in the tourist shopping area.  The road was closed to traffic and food and game booths were set up along the street.  I'd say more than half, maybe 2/3rds of the people came in yukatas.  It seemed to be a big local and family event.  We walked, we ate, we waited (fruitlessly) for our numbers to be called for the raffle (which in the end was probably a good thing since the line to pick up prizes was VERY long), we ate some more, etc.  I loved seeing all the different patterns on the yukata.  Although I have to say, recently, young people all seem to be going for black with pink, purple or blue flower designs.  It used to be that the yukata were printed with cool, refreshing colors.  The new ones are very pretty but I liked the old ones best.  Another new trend is girls wearing jinbei (men's outfits of long shorts and a kimono like top) with girlish patterns or the kimono like top with a little skirt of the same material.  Here are some examples.

Traditional patterns on the left, new style on the right.

The new girl's jinbeis.

These are older styles.

I met a few students.

The man on the left in the blue and white stripes is wearing a traditional jinbei.
The girl in the middle in pink has one of the new 'skirt jinbeis'

Some entertainment.

People gathered to hear the first raffle numbers called - there were a LOT of prizes.

We were waiting at a store to get a hamburger for Shioli's mom - turns out they were out and the line was just for ice cream but I love the English on this sign.
1.  Can not pull the mayonaisse.
2.  Can not cut a hamburger.
3.  (My personal favorite) Please pull the hateful vegetables by yourself.
4.  We can not receive the garbage which packed in the bag of the take-out.

Maybe I will bring a corrected version to them one day.  Maybe not.  It gave me a good laugh this way.

Lightly pickled cucumbers on a stick.  Yummy.

Yuzu and honey flavored shaved ice.

More entertainment.

Shioli's mom.

Shioli and me.

Just for the record I had some fried chicken and we shared a peach and whipped cream crepe cake.  I've been to Shioli's a couple of times for dinner which has been very nice, but I feel bad for giving her mom an extra person to cook for, so it was great to have her come out for some relaxing fun.