33rd bon odori celebration

I actually heard about the Bon Odori festival since my uni days and was glad I finally got to experience it with Siaw Chin and gang this year. Do you know this festival is similar to our Hungry Ghost, and it's held annually at the Panasonic Sports Complex, Shah Alam; thanks to the organisers-The Japan Club of KL, the Japanese School of KL along with the Japan Embassy of course.

It's an event everyone should experience at least once. And when you do, don't say I didn't warn you to be there early, or else you might end up walking half a km from the car park.

This year, there were some 30,000 who thronged the stadium, just to get a 'feel' of the OVERly-popularised Japanese culture here in Malaysia, moreso in the Klang Valley...
(Don't you think so? Every teenager out there is going more and more Jap these days)

I was kinda surprised no one was donning a face mask in view that A(H1N1) is SOO the 'in' thing now. Or maybe because putting on a surgical mask while in a kimono just looks so wrong.

The bustling crowd basking under the bright lights that illuminates the sky

Here's a note:

Guys who plan on going to Bon Odori just to gawk and pick up Japanese chicks like this,

and whom to have a cute little Japanese kid with,..... shall be fairly disappointed.

As I discovered, this place had more kimono-clad KiDs than cHIcKS.

Bummer. haha. I also heard from a friend that some people who frequent this place yearly have since started a collection of their exclusive, 'money-can't-buy' Bon Odori fans.
Somehow this year, the helpers at the reception counter encouraged (er, i mean 'allowed') us to take as many fans as we wanted.

So we took about 3 or 4 each.

(Just in case it gets too hot, the fans would help a great deal. And the more fans, the bigger the 'wind' effect right?) And then, there were the greedier ones.

These are now 'money-CAN-buy' fans and I'm selling.. woohoo! wHo wants?

There were also 'Peacock Balloons' on sale for RM 5. Tempting, but I wouldnt know what to do with it afterwards.

The highlight of the event has to be the Japanese traditional dance. Dancers and drummers performed on the yagura, a special platform set up in the centre of the stadium, and danced to folk songs that I later found out was called Tokyo ondo, Dai Tokyo Ondo, Hanagasa ondo and Ohisama ondo.

(shucks, now I just made me crave for onde-onde)

In the best of spirits, the crowd encircled the stage and followed the dance moves almost instantaneously.
Of course, in their attempt to follow the dance moves closely, some were bound to look robotic like yours truly.

After dancing for a full circle and arms tired from swaying them around like a monkey, we went for some Jap snacks and light beer. I do not have any photos of the food stalls as the area was too crowded, so just picture an extended Japanese food section of a Jusco mall.

After spending like 2 hours there, we decided to leave before the last programme. Yup, that's another piece of advice.

I enjoyed the event (though there really isn't much to do if you don't try out their dance). Still, it's a nice place to chill with friends and as it is a 'night' event, that means it's way cooler and the air chillier.

Don't worry about mosquitoes, there should be enough blood to go around.

aren't these kids just the cutest...

Next year, I'll go in a yukata.