Bon Festival

July 15th was the start of the Bon (or O-bon festival) here in Japan. The Obon festival is similar to the "Day of the Dead" celebrated by the hispanic race. Obon is short for urabanna which means suffering in hell. The legend is that Mokuren wanted his mother to stop the suffering she was receiving so he asked Buddha what he could do. Buddha replied with having a festival for the dead on the 15th of July. He did this and upon seeing his mothers release he danced for joy. The Bon-Dance was born. It basically shows respect for their ancestors sacrifices. In a country where the elders are given great respect, this is a big thing. The next month or so will be full of such dance festivals and alot of partying. It wraps up in the middle of August with the launching of paper lanterns into the sea to symbolize the casting off of souls.

Friday night the Japanese Navy held one in Nimitz park and envited any American that wanted to attend. It was an event to boost relations between the two nations. The night included three traditional bon dances around the drum and instrument stage. In between dances the JMSDF (Japan Meritime Service Defense Force) band entertained us with traditional Japanese music. After the second dance the roles switched from us trying to learn their dances to us showing them some of our traditional dances. The ones they thought of to showcase were the Electric slide and the Cha-Cha slide. 500 years of traditional ancient music compared to two cult icons no more than 30 years old themself. Go-figure.