Being In A Parade

Found this post I wrote while I was in Ojiya! Enjoy my experience of being in the annual Ojiya Matsuri parade! 😁



So this weekend was Ojiya Matsuri. Matsuri translates as festival but I'll just call it matsuri because it is a Japanese style summer festival. Part of the matsuri was parade floats and on Sunday there was a big parade and I got to be on one of the floats. There are essentially three types of parade floats: character floats, music floats, and sit there waving floats. Our group of floats had one of each and we had one person in each of the music and character floats and the rest of us were on the sit and wave float. Everyone was given matching coats, headbands, and fans to wear while waving at everyone. Usually each float had its own uniform of sorts so that was pretty cool. Hopefully I will get a picture of us on the float so I can post it here.

Not exactly the picture I was looking for but this is the float I was on featuring some fellow international students 

I've been in parades a few times, but I was always walking or doing something outside the float. American parades also have floats and such, just a little different. Parades themselves are always full of excitement and lots of fun. However, it isn't really the parade that is important: it's the people.

What I mean is the people both on the floats and along the streets. Ojiya is a small city so everyone watching saw people they knew on the floats and everyone on the floats saw people they knew on the streets. Waiting for the parade to start some of us foreign students wandered around and found our English students to see what floats they were on and what they were doing. They were so cute in their uniforms for their floats. Lots were playing traditional instruments so that was super cool.

When actually on the floats we just sat there and waved at everyone we could see. Many people lined the streets and some people watched from windows on upper floors too. At one point I saw a guy watching from a balcony about a block away so I waved at him and he waved back. You can stand far away but you can't escape the excited foreigner 😆. All of us crazy foreigners waved a lot and yelled a fair amount, especially when we saw someone we knew. Because of all the lessons we teach, school visits, and events we go to, there are many people that we know. It was really wonderful to take part in an important part of the local community and feel the connection to all the people there.