Nozawa Autumn Lantern Festival - Good Harvets ahead
Last weekend saw two amazing Festivals take place in Nagano.
In Nozawa Onsen we had the annual Autumn Lantern Festival. A beautiful traditional Village Festival to welcome in the start of Autumn and pray for a good upcoming Rice Harvest. All the kids in the Village got dressed up in traditional costumes and the whole village paraded through the streets for two very enjoyable days.
Both days the Festival finsihes on top of the long steps leading up to the shrine with an intriguing performance. Lots of Sake flowing and cheering from the crowd.
On the other side of Nagano in Hakuba a Festival of a different kind took place on Saturday night. Completely different scene but just as inspiring. Some of the long term locals there organisedMate Rock a charity concert to raise funds to send students from the Earthquake affected area on Exchange to Australia. Some of the big names in Aussie Rock were out in force to show thier support, including Jimmy Barnes and the Angels.
Well supported by some very cool local Japanese acts including the all girl rock band Pinky Piglets. Was a truly awesome day and felt very fortunate to be enjoying such great bands with only a few hundred other people.
Jimmy Barnes simply awesome in Nagano
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