Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri 2009

For the past several years, I have joined some friends to join in the spirit (and share in the local hospitality) of this festival, held the third weekend of every September in Kishiwada, in the south part of Osaka Prefecture. I took fewer photos than usual (the imbibing of some friends’ hospitality went on until nearly dusk this year), but here are a few samples of what we saw.

Click here to see shots from 2008, and here for photos from 2007, aaaaaand here for 2006.

Get out the Vote – Epilogue

The DPJ won a landslide, the LDP has imploded, and the Komeito were wiped out in Osaka. That included Mr Tabata, the MP my neighbour was exhorting me to vote for. He lost to a Mr Nakajima. Blood did not flow in the streets, but the neighbour was noticeably distant last evening when I met her and her bicycle in the elevator. Her whole attitude was a poorly concealed, “Happy now?”

Actually, I was.