these are the people in my neighborhood

This past Sunday, Yoni and I attended our second Nago Cherry Blossom Festival (the さくらまつり, if you want to get technical). 

Having experienced the festival in its totality last year, this time I felt at home enough to pay attention to more that just the parade and the flowers. Before the start of the festivities, and even during, I found myself totally captivated by the Okinawan families in attendance. People-watching is always interesting, but when the people belong to a culture that is so different from yours, the ante is somehow upped. Since I thought to bring along my papparazzo zoom lens, I'm happy to be able to share my people-watching adventures with you. 

  

 

the Orion beer factory was around the corner. of course, every small child needs a beer jacket.

 

i always wear my stilettos for a day of parade-watching and mountain-climbing, don't you?

there was a shocking amount of chalking happening - seemingly unsupervised - in the middle of the street.

this guy was cheerfully and loudly selling his tempura creations right behind us.

old ladies sit on the curb, too!

Of course I have to share a few pictures of the cherry blossoms themselves. They hadn't bloomed completely, but, if you made it up the mountain, there were plenty of beautiful flowers to see. 

Finally, for those of you who were particularly attached to last year's video (that's you, Abba), here's a small clip of adorable dancing children. How could I resist?