minato matsuri

My first Harbor Festival (Minato matsuri 港まつり) in Sotogahama!  

I had to be at the town hall so early, and I was running late, but again my wonderful coworker happened to see me as I was half-running, half-waddling and gave me a ride to the town hall.  I was so out of it that morning, I forgot so many things that morning, too.  

Luckily the weather wasn't forecasted to rain, but in the morning it was super foggy!  It gradually cleared away as it became warmer, and became a really beautiful day--albeit extremely hot.  I worked in the 棒パン(bo-pan stick bread) booth.  Basically, it's dough wrapped on a stick that you bake over charcoal.  I think it's super fun, but definitely working the booth is a different story.  It was one of the free booths (along with the potato booth and scallop booth where you can catch your own scallop!), so the line was always really long.  We ran out in 2 hours, and couldn't catch a break!  It was fun, though.  

I wasn't able to catch my elementary schools' performances, but I finished in time to see some of my middle school kids perform their traditional Arama dance.  Afterward, I ate my yummy bento and then was force-fed (I wasn't complaining) left-over scallops.  It was awesome.  

Cleaning up afterward was extremely exhausting, but we were able to finish quickly and go home.  I also took home a huge bag of scallops... I ended up giving half of my portion away to a friend, and in return, I got some tomatoes that she picked that day.  What a life in the inaka! 

this isn't a great picture, but this is a shot of the Kanita river, but you can't even see it because of the fog!

foggy top mast

shop booths about to open

prepping tako sashimi for the VIPs

aomori garlic!!! my fave

selling goldfish 

jomon booth's photo booth 

our bo-pan station!

sunny top mast

people were lining up for the free scallop fishing and the (not free) hirame fishing an hour before it started!

yokasoi kids opened up the opening ceremony

you can see me in the blue hat haha

arama

i managed to swipe one of the better bentos

i think i ended up being force fed all of these scallops 

i hate my face here but takako looks cuter in this pic so i'm uploading it for her...
i don't think she will even read this caption