Shinmei-ichi festival

Last weekend was a local festival at Mihara called Shinmei-ichi or Shinmei for short. I was rather hoping to be confronted by hordes of young Japanese lads with bandannas on beating drums, or perhaps a gilded portable shrine being carried through the streets, but Shinmei-ichi turns out to be a decidedly more low-key affair. The best they could manage was a geisha type playing a shamisen at occasional intervals.
Apparently the festival has something to do with Daruma dolls, of which there was a massive great one down the end of the street up on a tower, although nobody I asked was able to tell me quite what it all means.

Basically there was a super long line of fairground stalls such as old-fashioned lucky dips and shooting galleries, stalls selling swap cards and plastic toys, stalls selling all kinds of food and drink, and a haunted house. We had fun wandering up and down the street for a couple of hours with Yusaku and Ayasa.

Here’s some photos to prove it.

Felix scores his very own high-powered rifle at one of the stalls

So many people, so many things to eat

Ruby and Ayasa outside the haunted house, with Yusaku and Felix (light-bulb head) in the foreground.

Note the mask to the left: Man With Germs.

Meanwhile, for those with too much time on their hands, there are more photos on my flickr page.