My Summer Festival Memories Were Made of Someone's Kindness | Jimakocha Summer Festival

Hello.
I'm Papi, a troubled adventurer.

Today, I'm setting up a stall at the "Jimakocha Summer Festival," a festival happening right here on note.✨

🏮Click here for the Jimakocha Summer Festival articles🏮

MaruyokaReading your summer festival article suddenly brought back summer memories I had completely forgotten.

Sometimes, someone else's article can open the door to your own memories, can't it?

Today, I'd like to write about my own summer festival memories.

There's also a fun activity unique to festivals at the end, so I'd be happy if you read until the end.

My memories of summer festivals

When people think of summer festivals,
they might think of food stalls and fireworks displays.

What I remember is
a small Bon dance festival that the neighborhood dads and moms made by hand.

My hometown was, to put it nicely, a peaceful rural area.

There were no convenience stores within walking distance, and I think one was only built in the neighborhood when I was in elementary or junior high school.

Unlike my current indoor lifestyle,
I loved playing outside when I was a child,
and I would ride my bike around from morning until night.

It's a funny story now, but
I once fell into a rice paddy with my bike,
and couldn't get out on my own. lol

In the pitch black with almost no streetlights,
there wasn't a single soul around.

"What should I do if no one comes by?"

I was seriously about to cry, but my worried mother came looking for me and found me.

Bon dance festival

In the neighborhood, there was an empty lot with nothing in it, like something out of Doraemon,
and starting one year, a Bon dance festival began to be held there.

Handmade rice balls, yakisoba,
and frankfurters were lined up,
and the karaoke contest for the grandmas and grandpas was also something to look forward to every year.

At the end, there was a raffle for everyone.
Waiting with bated breath to see if my number would be called was also one of the joys of the festival.

And someone would always sing Akira Terao's
"Ruby no Yubiwa"🎤
↑ If you know this song, you're from the same Showa generation. lol

I listened to it casually when I was a child, but
now that I think about it, every time I heard this song,
I would feel, 'Ah, summer has come again this year,'
making it a summer tradition for me.

Year by year, the festival's yagura (scaffold) became more elaborate,
and the number of shooting games, yo-yo fishing, cotton candy, and
goldfish scooping stalls increased.

At first, the paper scoop for the goldfish would break immediately, but I gradually learned the tricks, and by the end of summer, the number of companions in my goldfish bowl at home would have grown.
Of course, some of them would pass away.

Being able to go out at night was special in itself,
the light of the lanterns, the sound of the festival music,
and the yakisoba we bought in line.

To me as a child,
that place was a dream world.

Helping at the stalls

When I became an adult, the local festival disappeared before I knew it due to the declining birthrate.

From my 20s to my 30s,
I helped every year at a Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki
stall at a friend's local festival.

It was truly hot in front of the iron griddle in midsummer,
and I would be drenched in sweat with a chilled towel wrapped around my neck.

Thinking together with my friends,
we would desperately keep cooking, asking, 'How can we serve the customers without making them wait?'

Since it was volunteer work, there was no pay at all. Haha

Even so, we would get treats of yakisoba or beer from the neighboring stalls,
and join the after-party once we closed up.

A glass poured from the beer server, drunk in the heat, was truly the best!

Even though it must have been busy,
it was a mysterious time that I can look back on and think,
'That summer was fun.'

There is something I only realized once I became the one helping.

Creating a festival is truly hard work.

The festivals from when I was a child were also
not made by professionals, but by the neighborhood fathers and mothers who prepared them in between their jobs for the sake of the children.

Once I was in a position to help,
I remember feeling happy when I saw the children lining up happily at the festival stalls.

'Ah, our festival was also made with these feelings.'

When I was a child, I only saw the 'fun!'

But behind that, it was filled with someone's kindness and a lot of sweat.

I feel like there is a scenery that I can only see now that I am an adult, which I couldn't see back then when I was just absorbed in enjoying the festivals.

It's not a bittersweet memory at all (lol), but writing about it this time made me realize once again that it was a precious memory.

Do you have any memories of festivals?

Main Sponsor Marie-san👇

Click here for the Jimakocha Festival stalls👇

Finally

Thank you
for reading until the end😊

The raffle held at the end of the Bon Odori dance festival when I was a child.
I want to recreate that excitement here at the note festival!

I'm holding a raffle on note!🎊

Additional raffle tickets: July 19th 20:00 - July 23rd

The text was still from before💦
I'm sorry🙏
There are still some left, so please come and draw a raffle ticket〜😊

🎯How to participate

Anyone can participate!

Which number corresponds to which prize is a surprise until you draw!😊
The results will be announced in a reply to your comment🎰

No losers! Everyone who draws a ticket will win something✨
Please try spinning the raffle in the spirit of a summer festival!

※The list of prizes in the video is different from the actual prizes. I'm sorry🙏

I made the video with a Showa-era vibe. After making it, I thought a video like this might already exist, but it's an original by Papi-san🎥

👇 Announcement of the winners of the first raffle 🎉🎉🎉

Showa Women's LIFE ~Magazine for the adult generation in their 40s, 50s, and 60s~

Rukonomirai-san I am participating in a co-managed magazine created by for people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s to connect with each other. I would be happy to connect with people of the same generation 😊

👇 Click here to register
If you are interested, please take a look at this article 😊

#JimakochaSummerFestival