I met some friends in Asakusa and we went souvenir shopping for them. We kept seeing people walking around with Kumade (lucky rake). After no luck finding where they were sold, I asked someone holding one where they got it. Turns out it was from a temple called Otori about 10 minutes walk from where we were.

We took sort of a back way to get there and found a ton of street food and shichimi stands. They got shichimi to take back friends and we got to the back of the temple.

It was amazing. There were endless stands set up to sell the elaborate rakes. It was like you were in a glittering tunnel of rakes. The din of the people selling was incredible too. Every time they sold a bigger one, they'd do a chant for the buyer.

My friend got one and then they got some beer to celebrate. Totally fun. Then we went out to look at the front and realized there was a line blocks long to get in. We'd skipped maybe two hours wait unintentionally by going in the back way like total amateurs.

I am up a mountain in an onsen town. That should be enough so why do I feel like I need to type something more deep?

I am up a mountain in an onsen town.

I couldn’t resist the temptation to take photos of the fireworks tonight. I am never going to look at them or use them for anything.

 

I started the NaNoWriMo writing challenge a week late because a family member was in Tokyo for the first week. The writing has started and it's both mind-opening plus a slog at the same time.

I am averaging 1604 words a day so far on the NaNoWriMo challenge. My total word count is 8024 words in five days.

One thing I've noticed so far is my writing pattern has a distinct pattern to it.

I start slow and rambling for 300 words. Then some idea I should probably do someday comes out and I flesh it out for the next 800 hundred-ish words or so.

The remaining words is usually me trying to keep the ball in the air while I try to slog on to get to the 1,667 goal.

Wexwwac w wwwwwww CC W ww eves is Swwt www wwwYés what y aww weed. Wwww V w *

This was in my spot of things to post someday so it is now posted. Hopefully someone finds it useful. 👆🏻

So stoked to go see fireworks tomorrow. It's been four years since they did the last ones in our area.

Tanabata today. It's a day for wish-making. No wish instantly popped into my mind so I decided to give the wish-granters some time off.

Happy New Year!

Summer without festivals is strange. When all this virus business calms down, I am going to not take them for granted.

Letting a project go is tough but it also feels lighter. I had a blog I really want to do but I really don't have the time for it. So, I packed up the files, put them away, and am enjoying not feeling guilty about having a neglected blog staring me in the face every day.