April 29 was
Showa Day, the celebration of the emperor's birthday (also my dad's birthday!). We went to the Meiji Shrine for some traditional court dancing. There were a ton of people there, as you can see.
We were a little late, so we only saw 2 dances. There were a lot of foreigners there and it was pretty nice because they had a brochure printed in English and the announcer spoke first in Japanese then translated to English. It was nice knowing what was going on. Normally we just stand around and look at the pretty colors.
The musicians.
The drummer.
One of the dancers. We happened to be in the right spot so they had to parade right past us. The masks are a little scary.
The moves are all very slow and controlled.
A wedding procession. This must be a lucky day to get married. We saw several weddings. They marched right past the dance stage. I think it would be pretty cool to be married at Meiji. I wonder if there's a lottery system or something.
The bride and groom.
After the dancing was finished we went for a picnic at
Yogogi Park. It's a very popular place for picnics and just fooling around. A lot of the other Tokyo parks don't allow you to be on the grass, but it's
ok to lounge around here. Badminton is a popular
past time. We got some food from a festival across the street. It was a totally random fair
encompassing politicians, environmentalists, human rights crusaders, and the Chamber of Commerce. We had an equally random assortment of food, including Turkish
kabab sandwiches, nachos, and Chinese
manju (steamed buns filled with BBQ pork).
April 29 was Showa Day, the celebration of the emperor's birthday (also my dad's birthday!). We went to the Meiji Shrine for some traditional court dancing. There were a ton of people there, as you can see.
We were a little late, so we only saw 2 dances. There were a lot of foreigners there and it was pretty nice because they had a brochure printed in English and the announcer spoke first in Japanese then translated to English. It was nice knowing what was going on. Normally we just stand around and look at the pretty colors.
The musicians.
The drummer.
One of the dancers. We happened to be in the right spot so they had to parade right past us. The masks are a little scary.
The moves are all very slow and controlled.
A wedding procession. This must be a lucky day to get married. We saw several weddings. They marched right past the dance stage. I think it would be pretty cool to be married at Meiji. I wonder if there's a lottery system or something.
The bride and groom. 
After the dancing was finished we went for a picnic at Yogogi Park. It's a very popular place for picnics and just fooling around. A lot of the other Tokyo parks don't allow you to be on the grass, but it's ok to lounge around here. Badminton is a popular past time. We got some food from a festival across the street. It was a totally random fair encompassing politicians, environmentalists, human rights crusaders, and the Chamber of Commerce. We had an equally random assortment of food, including Turkish kabab sandwiches, nachos, and Chinese manju (steamed buns filled with BBQ pork).
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