I paid a visit to the Bon Odori (Japanese Dance Festival) in Shah Alam over the weekend. It was held in a stadium/field. The stage was within the ring of the running track; 30x30ft square, and raised to about 15-20 feet high, so that everyone is able to view the dancers from afar (in order to mimic the dance that they performed).

Although they had paths in certain areas of the venue, most of the event was held on wet grass. So, wherever you walked, it was sure to be wet, or grass, otherwise: both. This was due to the rain that came down the night/afternoon before; an indicator to the coming rainy (monsoon, am I correct?) season. I might be wrong because I didn't feel like paying attention in Geography class that day--or was it another subject?

There was some type of soldiers around guarding the event in case of any foreseen/unforeseen mass hysteria, I imagine. They wore yellow berets and camouflage-like green, with boots. I bet they love Japanese girls, too. Who wouldn’t?

I think the soldiers were there to watch over the visitors; to make sure that they didn't smoke in the vicinity of the track and grass area. This is because smoking is not allowed and there was a designated smoking area near the also-designated portable (and public) lavatory area. Their portable pee-away's condition isn't the worst I've seen, but the wet floor in the units scare me. Afraid of the unknown, however, there is a chance it could have been water. In case you are imagining seating and ashtrays at the smoking area, you are sorely mistaken; they (the bon odori people) fashioned a bucket of water on the 'wet grass' as the final resting place of your cigarette.

I saw so many people in kimono or similar; from little boys/girls to ladies and gentlemen alike; all in their plain to flowery-designed kimono. They were everywhere and some weren't even Japanese. Two of my friends--twins--were wearing them, too. Yes, flower designs on their robes with the obi, or maybe it's called a different name.

Shortly after I got back from relieving myself at the portable pee-pee place, the dance started. Everyone then congregated at the center--where the stage was--and the dancing proceeded. Almost everyone was into the dance. The dances typically revolve counter clockwise and you would most likely end up on the opposite side of where you were initially.

The entire show with everyone dancing around the center--from afar and above--resembled the Hajj (pilgrimage in Makkah/Mecca), only a whole lot smaller in scale. I tried dancing along, but didn’t really put a whole lot of effort into it. A lady sings or recites something in Japanese that sounds like some poem or story and the people hit on the drums (taiko, I think they’re called), and the ladies in kimono on the stage wave their fans in some manner, and the spectators start to follow suit.

Everyone at the festival had fans. This was because they were handing them out at the entrances--copious volumes of them--resulting in the entire ring around the stage waving fans. The numbers would have been in thousands, but I don’t know how many thousand; probably just 2-3 thousand people attended (that’s about 8-12 thousand fans or more). It’s the first time that I’ve ever seen something like that before, “Mass order/synchronization wannabes”. Strangest part about it was when some kid decided that it would have been a good idea to use her fan to hit Ee Von on her head. She acted on her impulse, leaving me to be blamed for doing something so absurd.

The most dreadful bit: Queuing up for food. The lines were just staggering. Hordes of customers trying to be the nightmare of some poor kid that decided on working at the festival as a sushi boy. The takoyaki stand and the stand with a crazy lot of colourful pictures got it the worst; you can’t even see what they are selling; only these pieces of paper they hang above the stand as a menu.

I had the takoyaki and a drumstick of roasted chicken. They each cost RM6. A can of coke costs RM3 and a bottle of mineral water is RM2. Everyone’s trying to make some money. They even had beer, but I didn’t get some. I had to eat the chicken standing up with chopsticks while waiting for the takoyaki line o move; I gave up, and left it to Sze Wei.

Ee Von had found a Kodak 2 mega pixel camera. I was hoping she’d give it to me, but in the end, she returned it. Lost and found was all “sankyu! sankyu!” about it. I guess it was the right thing to do. You would have had pictures to see if we had done the not so correct thing. We walked up and down looking for the lost and found area. You should have seen the lengths we go to, to make sure that YOU get your camera back. In the end, I don’t think the loser (person who lost her camera) would have gone and collected it, leaving the camera in the hands of the lost and found to keep.

Overall, the festival was great albeit crowded, and a new sight and experience! I know it is a packed place to be in, but I would suggest/advise you to go and take a look and try something new if you’ve never been to one of these festivals before. However, if you’re allergic to long queues and touching people: You should stay at home and watch HBO on Astro; or if you don’t have Astro, go online and read about the event like you’re doing now.