Gion Matsuri
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At the moment I’m in Osaka. Compared to Tokyo, this city somehow feels more home to me and my travelmates. It might be because of the maritime climate or the increased criminality like the Amsterdam suburbs. This is the last day in Osaka, tomorrow we will have one more night in Kyoto, Japan’s cultural capital. This weekend we’ve been visiting the Gion matsuri (festival). This way too crowded event has a high social atmosphere unknown for Tokyo-an measurements. One of the nice things is about the matsuri (festivals) is the kimono/yukata dressed up girls who look beautiful. Happily for me my Japanese girlfriend, Yumi, recently bought one as well. She promised me to wear it this summer when I will visit her hometown. |
Holland doesn’t have very special ancient clothing like the Japanese I think. When I visited a museum in Osaka I realized that Japan has always been quite extreme in many ways, both in in beauty and crualty. The Japanese have commit many genocides and have a very harsh wartime history. In contrast the Japanese have a very high standard for quality of goods and (non essential) services, like dining and nice-to-haves. The same extremes can be found in the things that initially attracted me (and still do), the massive buildings, automated transportation and advanced technological development. Compared to this country, Holland might be dull, but it’s a nice place to live to escape all the madness.
Tomorrow I will try to find some nice restfully places in Kyoto and escape the restlessness of the cities. Yesterday I finished reading ‘The Old Capital’ in my capsule (like a hotel room). In this 40 year old book by nobel-prize winner Yasunari Kawabata some nice Kyoto scenes are described. Tomorrow I will try to find the Kitayama Ceddar village, as described in the book.
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