Recently I went to my town’s natsumatsuri (夏祭り) Natsumatsuri..
🕑 Added 2024-08-03 04:01:46 +0000 UTC
Recently I went to my town’s natsumatsuri (夏祭り) Natsumatsuri in Japan is a small local town summer festival. The place I went into was divided into two parts: The local park that was connected to an public facility and the playgrounds of the facility itself. In the park there were a lot of standing tables arranged and next to those tables there were a lot of food stalls. I bought a small cup of popcorn for 100円 and a cup of beer for 400円 Also, I saw that one of the food stalls was selling karage but at first it looked too expensive to me. Normally food stalls would charge 700 or 800円 for karage but this one was charging it for 1100円. At first, I refused to buy it but then I got a little tipsy from the beer and ended up buying it anyways. And it was delicious so I don’t regret my bad financial decision. While I was walking around and eating, I went over the facility area and saw that there was going to be a dance in about an hours time and a lottery. So I grabbed a lottery ticket and went back to the park area and sat there while eating and playing on my phone and waited for an hour for the dance to start. In Japan, all natsumatsuri have this weird circledance where everyone gathers in a circle and dance to old songs. Then after the songs are over, they hold a lottery contest. At the beginning of the festival you can go to the park and get a free lottery ticket. Then at the end of the festival they do a big show where everyone stands in a circle around the lottery prices and you hope the speaker calls your number. After waiting for an hour in the park, I went over to the facility and watched everyone dance. I wanted to dance too in the circle, but I was too shy and too embarrassed to do that kind of stuff alone. So I just watched from the sidelines and took a few videoes. About 12 songs were played and the last song was Aosobi, one of my favorite songs. So I was pleasantly delighted. After the last song was over, it was time for the lottery and I was hyped. I had been waiting for 2 hours at this point for the lottery to begin and I could feel it in my bones that I was going to win a prize. The entire day I had been eyeing the pink princess toy by the lottery booth and I wanted it. Fasting forward to the end: Some stupid adult won the toy and out of the 20 or more prizes I won zero. I waited until the end and when I heard the last number called on wasn’t mine I didn’t even wait to see who won it. I just walked home aggressively and threw my tickets in the trash. Next year perhaps I shall win a prize. Only time will tell. Fortune comes to those who wait.
