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A couple of weeks ago I traveled down to Matsue for the 2009 Horanenya festival. The Horanenya festival is one of three famous boat festivals in Japan. It is held only once every twelve years so I took advantage of this time

This is the bus ride home from Haneda Airport to Shinjuku Station...

The story is that the spirit of a Kitsune fox god is transported between two shrines by boat and Kabuki actors dance while the rowers chant Horanenya! (a plea to the gods for a good harvest).

If you missed it dont worry you can catch it again in the year 2021

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After a day of white water rafting on the Tone River this is the only way to travel back to Tokyo

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I took this sequence at a Hanami party in Hikargaoka Park. I think he was the poor guy who had to sit out for days to reserve the spot. His reward was getting to chug a beer.

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