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Bridge Under the River Koi
A temporary bridge is erected to assist visitors in accessing both sides of the river and enjoying the beauty of the Koi no bori swimming in the breeze overhead. Behind the building in the foreground is the tiny village of Oku in far northern Okinawa. This village is in about as remote an area you can imagine. Still people come from the big city by the bus loads to see this display and celebrate Kodomo no hi with the people of this tiny village.
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Everything's Golden
Photo Essay written 1 May 2008
A brief look at the "Golden Week" celebrations at a tiny village in Japan.
Decisions decisions
the hardest part of buying a snack at a festival in Japan is deciding what to buy. First of all its all delicious and secondly, well, its all delicious!
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Yattai Umai!
A festival food stand or Matsuri Yattai. Here you can find everything from fried squid and octopus to the more familiar fresh roasted sweet corn from Hokkaido or the ever popular Corn Dogs known to the locals as "American Dogs!" Everything smells as good as it looks and tastes even better. A little squeamish about trying something out of the ordinary. don't be, the Japanese are gourmet eaters and everything is simply put delicious, or as they say in Japanese, Umai!
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Wet T Shirt and Family Fun
A family visiting the area enjoys the water and the scenery under the Koi.
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The Big One
Koi banners in every color and size grace the river valley in Oku village. The giant one in the foreground is in the neighborhood of 5 meters in length or about 16 feet from head to tail.
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The Cool Spot
Visitors here are sprayed with a fine mist of cold water to cool them off on a hot day. Streamers and banners strung up throughout are in celebration of Kodomo no hi, Children's Day.
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Jaws
To celebrate Kodomo-no-hi, People normally put out stringers of Carp called Koi no bori. Obviously somebody here had a sense of humor by putting out this one. Probably due to their proximity to the Ocean, they also put out some banners shaped like game fish, shrimp and other sea creatures too.
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Too Many to Count
More than 500 Koi banners on display in tiny Oku village Okinawa, Japan. They're all up in celebration of the big "Kodomo-no-hi" Children's Day celebration. Part of the Golden Week celebration held every year from April 29th through May 5th. Oku's population is less than 300 people but they go for Kodomo-no-hi in a big way!
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Still Setting Up
The banners are up, the temporary bridge over the creek (just out of view) is ready and the temporary stage (foreground) is all thats left to ready this little village for their big annual celebration.
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Keith Graff has been a member since 7 April 2008 and goes by docgraff.
Currently in Okinawa.
I am a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer living as an expatriate in Okinawa Japan. I supplement my retirement as a freelance writer and photographer for Stripes Okinawa, a weekly supplement to the Stars and Stripes Newspaper. This is the ideal job as each week I travel around this island paradise and look for interesting sights to see and things to do for the many service men and women stationed here. As far as my photography goes, I would classify myself as a beginner amateur.
You can also find Keith at www.keithgraff.com.
