Summer Festival

Our son recently participated in a "Summer Festival" for his Yochien.  He got to pick out his first kimono to wear for it, and learn some Japanese style dancing.  This was quite exciting for me as he had never previously been interested in dancing.  Interesting how it becomes fun in a group atmosphere; and by adding props. ;)

Here is our son waiting with his class for the program to begin...

The program was introduced by an adorable younger coed dance.  Then each of the older classes carried one of these handmade towers around the gym...

Then their was a girls dance, followed by a boys dance.  Here is a video and some photos from our son in the boys dance...

Our son is on the end facing the opposite side

Not perfect, but I am still fascinated, especially considering he still doesn't really understand Japanese. ;)

You may notice the boys are wearing two different types of kimonos, one piece (yukata) and two piece (jinbei) which are only for kids up to 130 cm.  The yukata is more traditional.  Kimonos must always be wrapped left over right, unless for a funeral, the right over left.

The program finished with parent/child dances.  I got to learn a fun Japanese dance with my son.  Unfortunately it did not get video-taped because it was too hard for "Daddy" to watch our daughter at the same time.  He did get a photo when the dance ended...

After the program, the kids got masks, inflatable swords, and treat bags to take home.  (Our daughter got a mask too, "Hello Kitty".)

We are very thankful our son got to participate in this activity, especially as we are debating on whether to keep him in Yochien until first grade, or start him in base Kindergarten in the fall.