Uchiko Sasa Festival and Ramen

Our next event that we are attending is the Uchiko Sasa (Bamboo) Festival that occurs over a period of three days. The Festival happens in old town Uchiko where they close a main street down for about 1 km.

Uchiko Sasa Festival

In the last five days leading up to the Festival we have been affected by 2 typhoons. We have received mostly rain and some wind but overall it has been like a normal Tuesday in Oregon.

On this stretch there will be displays set up that are made by groups, businesses, individuals, and others. Most are made with recycled materials and as you will see they are incredibly detailed and beautiful.

On the first day of the Festival rain and wind from the typhoon was expected so the displays were covered in plastic. We walked through, took some photos, and made the politically incorrect statements about the festival promoting safe sex with the use of condoms on the displays.

Like every festival there is food and vendor booths set up along the route.

Every night there will be projections on several of the buildings, plazas, and walkways.

The second night of the Festival involves a parade, which we found out we were dancing in with the Uchiko Town International Association. Although this is out of Vince's comfort zone, we put on our jinbeis and danced in the parade. Vince even admitted that he enjoyed it.

Afterward we went to the after-party Japan style, with lots of beer and food.

We did not plan on going to the Festival on the third day as there were no special events being planned and our plan was to go to the 7 Market in Seiyo, about a half hour from Uchiko. It was just as well as the typhoon was sending rain again. The 7 Market is held once each month on the 7^th of the month. New and second hand Kimonos, Yukatas, and fabrics are the order of the day.

The Market is in an agricultural area and we enjoyed the view there also.

The next day we woke to the rain from the next typhoon heading our way. This was a perfect day to go to Ozu to check out the Super Fuji Market and more importantly get some comfort food, Tonkotsu Ramen, made with pork bone broth and some goyza. Last time we were in Japan Lin mentioned that the Ramen we had in Tokyo changed her life. This was even better.

Today the typhoon is supposed to hit us directly this afternoon. Supposed to be high wind and lots of rain. In the past when they have had these warnings the typhoon has always ended up going around them. We will see. We're supposed to drive to Matsuyama this afternoon.