Yosakoi

I am willing to bet that none of my American friends have ever heard of Yosakoi. I don't think I am even capable of explaining it, so I will direct you to the wikipedia explanation: Yosakoi wikipedia

Hard to explain in english, isn't it?

Ok. There was a HUGE yosakoi festival in Omotesando last week, and we decided to go. The festival was set up in Yoyogi koen, the large park that we live near. It's 2 subway stops away, about a half hour walk or a 10-15 minute bike ride. We took the subway from Yoyogi-uehara to Meiji-jingumae and there we were, right in the middle of the festival.

We took some time to watch the yosakoi groups at the stage right near the Meiji-jingumae subway station. Nick and I planned to get all the boys some lunch at the park - Japanese street food is the best junk food you will ever eat. After some yakisoba and yakitori, we walked down to the next stage and watched some more groups perform.

This was so much fun. The dancing is fun, and the groups vary so much- there are college groups, neighborhood groups with older ladies and toddlers, and work groups like the TokyoMetro group that was the last group we saw perform. After their energetic, entertaining dance, it started to rain, so the Johnsons decided to head back to the subway and go home.

The group we had just seen perform was also headed home - and there they were, en masse in the subway - the Tokyo Metro Yosakoi dance group. They were very gracious and

friendly and let us take some photos with Michael and Sam. Then we said

sayonara - and they took the train one direction, while we headed back to Yoyogi-uehara.