Well, it's been like 2 weeks since I actually went to the Ayu Matsuri (festival) but I guess it's better late than never. This was an exciting festival for a few reasons. It was small, but unique. At night, the men from the near-by towns went out into the river on small boats and demonstrated how fishermen used to catch fish with fire. So they floated around with lanterns waving huge burning sticks over the water. It was pretty cool looking. Here are some pictures. They are kind of dark because it was after all at night, and they were a little ways out in the water, but I think you can make out some people. Another reason it was a cool festival was because we dressed up in our yukata to go. It wasn't really a festival where you dress up in yukata, like the Nakamura one would be the following week, but Nare (from Korea) was finishing up her year here in Shimanto-cho and was leaving before that next festival, and Marisa and I had volunteered to help run a booth at the 24 hour Charity the same night as the Nakamura festival, so we made the most of it. Luckily there were a few others there that were dressed up, so it wasn't like we were completely out of place (excepting the fact that it's impossible to completely blend in as well because of the tall, white skin, blonde hair factor). Anyway, we ate shaved ice, watched the fishermen on the river with the fire and then the fireworks.
The next week was the 24 Hour Charity event. There was a 24 Hour Television Charity going on where there were celebrities doing stuff like one lady was running some marathon, or something and different celebrities did a drama to show, and in our town, they hosted what seemed to be almost a carnival.
It seemed like a matsuri (festival) because of the food stands and games set up, but then there was entertainment as well. There were clowns, hula dancers, people dressed as turtles dancing, the kid's taiko (Japanese drums) group, kindergarten classes (which I got video of but it turned out sideways for some reason), etc all performing. Oh yes, at the end of the night there was a group of 3 guys who did a little break dance thing and said they were always looking for new members. I got some video of that (sorry it's a little blurred - I took it on my cell phone). I'll try and post that here and hopefully it isn't all out of sync like the Yosakoi videos were. Anyway, our dart blowing stand was pretty fun, and this one guy even got Marisa and I some yakitori (teriyaki chicken on a stick essentially) which was soooo good, and then some curry, which, of course, was also delicious. We also got some cream soda, which contrary to what you might think, ended up just being a float (like a melon soda float, or coca-cola float). Anyway, enjoy the pictures!!! 
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