Long reigns the Gion Matsuri (literally Gion Festival), a celebration in Kyoto, Japan since 869 A.D.  That’s no typo – this tradition has been celebrated annually for 1200 years.  Originally founded as a sacred ritual to pray away famine, death, disease and disaster, Japan’s oldest and greatest celebration has morphed from one oppressed religion to another.  Today it is a kind of open party, complete with a parade, huge floats, public drinking, carnival games, and food stalls, across the entire city.  It is the pride of this archipelago nation, a celebration fit to rival Chinese New Year, or Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  Keyword: fit.

Hoko Shrine: The Gion Matsuri, on a side street.

Some of the ancient festival’s parade floats, parked throughout the Gion district in the days before the festival, tower 100 feet above the street. A few even have a dozen men on board, participating in ancient, graceful and mysterious rituals of singing and drum-tapping.  The lore of these rituals continues to this day.

Food stalls line street after street. There’s the usual french fries and chicken tenders, but then there is “okonomiyaki,” a large, delicious, and sloppy concoction of egg and vegetables. There’s yakisoba, better known abroad as fried noodles. I even tried intestine sausages. Yes, intestine sausages. They were very rubbery. My favorite food was “tayaki,” a kind of pancake pocket with anything inside, ranging from red bean paste to cheese. Mine contained bacon and egg, a legendary fusion of east and west I wouldn’t have found without Karl, my determined coworker.  Meanwhile, all kinds of Japanese and western deserts and treats satisfy every sweet tooth.

True food porn is subtle.

Beers are (nearly) free flowing – cheap from the many open convenience stores, enjoying their busiest nights of the year, or expensive from outdoor stands, which are nonetheless raking in sales of the impatient. Not joining the event until after work, at about 9:30 PM, I didn’t fail to notice the widespread inebriation.  And yet, there wasn’t so much as an unwarranted shove in the whole city.  I haven’t seen this large a collection of well-behaved people since watching 1984 on Netflix.

Not seen: no small number of unattended children.

Young girls outnumbered every other demographic, many in traditional attire – Yukata dresses. No country I’ve yet visited seems to have so much of its youth genuinely interested in its historical traditions.

And so, by Japanese standards, this was the perfect time for the police to barrel through and order everyone to clear the streets and go home. “Traffic has to go through eventually” Karl said in their defense. But there was little traffic at 11 PM, only annoying teenagers in muscle cars with ugly spoilers, cheesy fire-stickers on the side, and severely amplified engines, roaring through as loud as they could. I’d post a video or picture to show how stupid they look, but that kind of attention is why they do it in the first place.

Clearing the streets.

In fact, by a purely economic argument, forcefully ending the festival when it was still packed with revelers only served to shut down a massive marketplace. But to the locals, this is about restoring “order” and “normalcy.”  As my students put it, it’s “Japanese Style.”

Indeed, it was quintessential Japan. Business before pleasure. Also, business after pleasure. Pleasure has to give business a few more minutes as well, just cuz’. Also, a little business during pleasure. Okay, WOW that’s enough pleasure!  Time for business.

Here is a video I took on my way home:

CORRECTION: This post originally referred to “Geisha and Maiko” dresses.  The young people are apparently wearing Yukata dresses.

UPDATE: If the above correction didn’t tell you, I apparently know nothing about Japan.  Most of all I’ve been told the statement about young people being genuinely interested in Japanese historical traditions is completely false.  I was comparing this to France, the only other foreign country in which I’ve ever lived, and America, which, compared to France or Japan, generally lacks extensive historical traditions.  But here’s a future disclaimer: most to all of my assumptions about Japan probably range from severely skewed to downright false.

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Thanks for reading!