On 12-July 08 (Saturday), one of the auspicious Japanese festivals was held in Panasonic Sports Complex, the Bon Odori. Our Japanese class organised an unofficial trip to this event. This is my first time to attend such event and it was a magnificent and an exciting trip overall :).
In the past, where I worked in JVC Shah Alam as an engineer, once a while, heard of this event, however unable to participate, due to tremendous workload. Tremendous as in, where everyone delightfully countdown for New Year, undoubtedly, had to work :(! By the way, for your information, Panasonic Sports Complex is just opposite to JVC plants. So near yet so far :)! Anyhow, it was still a fabulous experience working in this multinational company :).Definition of Bon Odori (盆踊り) quoted from Wikipedia:
"Obon (お盆) or just Bon (盆) is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. Also called the Feast of Lanterns, it has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance (Odori - 踊り), known as Bon-Odori."

Wow! Lots of people!

Different people from different walks of life!
Or more than 10,000!!??


The stage of performance with drums and etc to perform the Odori.
That's all folks. We left the complex 30 minutes earlier to avoid massive jams upon dispersion.
Non related yet worthy sentence:
Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising up every time we fail - Ralph Waldo Emerson.

















































