Bon O-dori in Kobe ! (神戸の盆踊り)

Kansai PJ's Frakin' Life Vblog No 108

O-bon (お盆) is a Japanese holiday period in the late summer that pays tribute to the departed spirits of ancestors.

Bon Odori is a celebration of dance and music - a time in which ancestors and their sacrifices are remembered and appreciated. It occurs in the heat of late summer, festival-goers often wear yukata, or light cotton kimonos. Though Kev and I refused the silly impluse to join them - how sad some foreigners look in jimbei or yukata!!

Many Obon celebrations include a carnival with rides, games, and summer festival food.

Kobe's masturi is very internationally-oriented, with English translations of many activities and food stalls from many different Asian countries as well as the normal fare. It was a lot of fun.

Check out this video. If you enjoy it, check out Kev's vid for the same event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQnqIBy5P8M

And this is a link to the video I did from last year, which features a local celebration at a neighborhood temple and has a very different feel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1BRUe5aLOg

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• kansaipj
• obon
• odori
• kobe
• festival
• matsuri
• blog
• travel
• log
• busankevin
• food
• beer
• dance

[Hikosaemon]

Nicely done - the voice over worked great.

Peace

[kansaiPJ]

Thanks. The one problem with the voiceover was the cracking sound. I have to remember to balance my mic properly before recording...

[JLWilliams3]

Had my eyes glued to this one ;-) There was this building in the background (kind of neon blue color) that I thought was amazing...of course my monitor is tiny & for all I know I might be gawking at a construction crane or something lol. Looks like fun was had by all (despite the absence of giant mugs o' beer haha)

[kansaiPJ]

Hey JLW! That building... I think it is a maritime museum.

Thanks for watching!

[nabouchejsi]

wow, how come they all know the moves? Do they learn it in school or what ;)

[kansaiPJ]

Good question... have no idea.

[PrincesCrocodile]

Nice video, I liked the voice over with it. The guy with the sake and cigarette holder was awesome, that's an O-bon pro!The drunk guy at 2:54 was great too!

[chaos18999]

Great vid pj! Looked like a lot of fun. And lol at the drunk guy and the dog :p

[otakufromWI]

Makes me want to visit Kobe...

[BusanKevin]

Nice stuff Mr. Kansaipj!!! I enjoyed watching it a great deal. You got some very cute little kid footage. Hope there are some cool Fall festivals in Osaka we can hit up! Hopefully the festival beers will be less than 500yen each :)

[KayWillsonVB]

Nice video. Man, I miss Kobe.