This is summer 2025 in Rakurakuen (楽々園), a suburb in the western outskirts of Hiroshima, Japan - my neck of the woods. The festival is run by the local traders and it's one of my favourite festivals of the year.
Here's a video I put together from clips I took as I wandered around buying snacks and beers from various stalls and checking out the scene...
For me the anchor of the whole festival is the takoyaki stall although I didn't actually buy any takoyaki, just a beer or two at that stall. I know the guys who were helping out on that stall and they are a good laugh.
Just around the corner there's the "Hand of Horse" (馬の手) yakiniku restaurant. As I expected, they had set up a stall selling good quality sausages. It's a good place to go and chill out for a bit.
Later I bought a fish cake wrapped in bacon on a stick from three ladies running a stall at the far end of the street festival.
One thing we must never neglect at the Rakurakuen Festival is the hip-hop dancers. Some of the cutest young girls dancing to music with some of the most vulgar lyrics. Actually, the lyrics were okay in the video, no one syllable words beginning with "B" or "F" during the dance routine that I watched.
As night drew in, I went back to the takoyaki stall for the last beer of the evening and accidentally jumped the queue, much to the amusement of the guys serving the drinks. I got chatting to a bloke who had some relatives in Scotland and before I knew it, he was escorting me to the nearby supermarket to treat me to a 500ml can of 7% ABV "lemon sour."
I'm not sure how many beers went down the hatch prior to the lemon sour, but here's the healthy grub tally:
- 1 sausage from "Hand of Horse"
- 2 bags of chips (french fries)
- 1 bacon-wrapped fish cake on a stick
- 1 cup of chicken nuggets
And here is my good old chum with goggly eyes who, together with the guys selling booze at the takoyaki stall, is a local government official. LOL!
Cheers!
David Hurley
#InspiredFocus