visited Kyoto's Gion Matsuri 京都祇園祭り today! it's one of the biggest summer event in Kyoto and in Japan. when i first reached Kyoto, i kept feeling very nolstagic. 懐かしい！ last yr, i had come here to tour for 2 days after the Hiroshima internship. at tt time, i certainly didn't expect to be able to come back again so soon! Kobe is actually quite near Kyoto, onli 2hrs away by Hankyu 阪急 train which cost onli 400yen. i can easily go Kyoto anytime now. it's really the best place to have a feel of traditional Japan. anyway, today is the first time i went out in Yukata to attend such summer festival. hee~ so fun!!


waiting for 阪急 train... Boss acting weird behind


the 4 of us! (taken by C's fren whom we met coincidentally on the train)


our yukata look at traditional looking street of Gion 祇園


it was a rainy day... so we enjoyed a nice long cup of coffee in this nice teahouse


yukata mi in traditional Japanese garden background


rain finally stopped. Yasaka Jinja 八坂神社 was jam packed with ppl!


walking past Kamogawa River 鴨川... crowded yet peaceful


some parade on the street


before the festival started... crazy full of ppl!!


yeah! finally started~ the 1st "ship" we saw (the festival is all abt such ships)


3rd or 4th ship... there's band playing on most of them


mi & one of the ships


walking thru the roadside stalls... so so so manyyyy!!!


lanterns lights up as it turned darker


more ships (they all look abt the same but actually contains different stories)


nitetime... the roads so packed it was hard to move an inch!!


C called up some of her frens who were studying in Kyoto uni. we finally found them among the confusion and took a group pic together.


boss & N-san went back first while we went to 八坂神社 again with C's frens (also saw an interesting magic show behind the shrine)


typical Japanese summer festival! yukata & roadside stall~
really tiring day cos of the rain and the crowd. but a really enjoyable one too! never visited such a big scale festival and also very happy to get to know those friendly Kyoto students.