August 6 – 7, 2016

Urayasu here we come! Or more specifically, Grant and I went and visited some pint-sized cousins of mine out in the “burbs”.

We had the pleasure of going to a summer matsuri, or Japanese summer festival. One of many held throughout the city. The good thing is that these are usually held on separate weekends so you can visit different ones in different districts of the city.

I liken matsuris to family-friendly block parties complete with traditional music and dancing, food stands selling takoyaki (octopus dumplings), and carnival games for kids.

 

 

 

The following day, my cousins took Grant and I to the Urayasu City Folk Museum. I didn’t know much about the history of the city but I somehow suspected that it was a new part of Tokyo (ok, ok, the brand new buildings and streets gave it away). It turns out that Urayasu, being right on Tokyo Bay, used to be a fishing village. It’s right at the mouth of the Edo River and is a great place for catching various fish, nori (edible seaweed), and shell fish including hamaguri (the common orient clam) and asari (Japanese cockle). There was a whole industry built on the fish being caught in the early mornings and then sold at restaurants and markets in the city, usually bicycled in by fish messengers during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Then in the 1960’s and 70’s, Urayasu was extended in to the bay with a giant landfill project which created space for modern apartment buildings, arranged in American-style city grids, that included schools, roads, sidewalks, and palm trees. This newer area is called Shin-Urayasu, or New-Urayasu, and is now a desirable place for new families to live in. The streets in Shin-Urayasu remind me a little of Honolulu or being at a beach town as it’s near the sea with palm trees and has a more relaxed atmosphere than nearby, bustling Tokyo.

The folk museum is small but worth going to if you are in the area. The main building houses some displays and historical artifacts detailing the life and culture of the district. But the fun part is an outdoor section that includes authentic old wooden houses and whole restaurants and stores, transported to the museum before the city razed the rest of the town down to make room for modern apartment blocks. You can walk around in this reconstructed town and go into the old buildings and get a sense of the history of the city. I think it’s a great way of preserving history, and the admission is free.

 

 

Here we got to ride on a traditional fishing boat in a recreated harbor:

 

 

And try out different children’s toys of the era (before playstations and nintendo), which included…

Super Soaker’s made out of bamboo:

 

 

 

Stilts:

 

 

 

 

Japanese version of horseshoe throwing:

 

 

It was cool to see the various wooden houses that fisherman or village folk lived in. Walking through these was very nostalgic for me as my Grandma used to live in a similar type of house when I was growing up. I remember visiting her there during the summers, before it got eminent domained and they moved her in to a high-rise building.

Even walking through these museum houses, the smell of the old wood and grass of the tatami floors took me back to my childhood days.

 

There was even a whole tempura restaurant featured. Here is Grant drinking a “beer”.

 

 

 

After this, we all went out for some shaved ice. The weather definitely called for something ice cold.

 

 

That evening, we traveled by train back to cousin M’s apartment where her own district’s summer matsuri was taking place. We made gyoza, Japanese pot stickers, and then got dressed in yukatas (casual summer kimonos) and went Bon dancing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As per tradition, you usually get a reward for dancing if you do it long enough. Usually it’s a festival towel or a handheld fan. For this dance, we got popsicles and juice. I was super excited! This was the first time I ever danced long enough to get something. I usually chicken out.

 

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