Shinto festival

Public space is highly controlled in Tokyo, so it was nice to see a few celebratory gatherings on a warm, windy Saturday. Matsuri festivals, because of their broad social support, always enjoy a smooth approval process.

These guys are carrying their local shrine's Shinto deity, known as a kami, in a portable shrine called a mikoshi. This was an exuberant display, and they are bouncing the heavy box up and down. Police were outside Uguisudani Station to control traffic. It is the only time of year when the kami is paraded around. 

Almost every Shinto shrine has a festival. Some of them, like the one that will take place this month in Asakusa a mile and a half away, attract millions of spectators. This one had about 75 participants with a dozen people cheering them on.

It may explain all the drum and flute sounds I heard in the morning. And it may also throw light upon the energetic gentlemen I saw taking off their pants near the Joban Line and putting on loincloths called fundoshi.

Other happy gatherings today: At a pocket park in Arakawa, some Southeast Asian folks are playing music and enjoying themselves. 

And at the Bentendo Temple, situated in the middle of a vast lotus pond, another festival is going on.

Long black birds with orange accents on their heads glide overhead. 

Thank Yeshua for the internet. A very skilled German photographer took this remarkable photo last winter, identifying them as Japanese cormorants. Thanks, Markus. I would be lost without you.

I have an okonomiyaki pancake and a skewer of barbecued sea snails while watching these graceful, unfamiliar creatures.

So yeah, a lot of merrymaking this weekend. Does there need to be an occasion? It's springtime in Tokyo!