Bon Odori Festival

Just came back from the Bon Odori Festival held at Esplanade, Penang. What is Bon Odori, you ask? Well, at first, I thought it was a Japanese summer festival, but when I reached the destination only did I found out that it was sort of a Japanese ghost festival, a reminder that one should feel gratefulness towards one's ancestors.

There are a lots of Japanese families at the festival. I did not know that there was so many Japanese folks living in Penang. People was constantly taking photos of them as if they were some sort of exhibitions. Pui Yee even said that they were invading their privacies. There were also Malaysians dressed in kimonos and yukatas for the event.

Japanese family enjoying themselves
The public invading their privacies

There were a lot of traditional Japanese dances and performances by the Japanese Association and all. Beside that, booths were set up where all kind of stuffs were sold. Some had the Japanese games such as goldfish catching for people to play. Some sold souvenirs such as toys, etc. Some provided kimono for the public to try on and had a photo taken. Majority of the stalls sold food ranging from Japanese cuisines and local delicacies. Rather expensive though the foods that were sold.

One of the many performances
Japanese games
Souvenir...
Food stalls
Some of them dressed like this to fit the mood...


Few dances recorded on video...low qualities though...

The audiences on the floor were joining the dance

The dancers saying sayonara...

At the end of the event, there was a firework display which lasted for around 5 minutes, I think. It was a nice experience going for the Bon Odori Festival.

Firework display