Summer Holiday - Kyoto

Summer holidays have started! I was just going to go to Hiroshima but a friend from training wanted to come with since she hadn't travelled much yet.  Changed my itinerary a bit to get to Kyoto again, and let her see a bit of the old city too.  Got to see a couple of the other temples I didn't see last time.  It's interesting seeing this part of Japan to compare it to earlier in my trip, I've learnt a lot.

Gotemba Summer Festival

So Gotemba had it's summer festival the other weekend. A few streets were blocked off from traffic, they had a bit of the local shrine parade and lots of your typical summer festival street food. It was the first time I've got a sense for how big Gotemba actually is! It really is remarkably quiet for such a big population town!
The festival itself was good. It had a bit of everything, there were Taiko drum competitions with some local school groups. Break dancing competitions. Salsa dancing competitions. Kid's mini-fishing, and a 'straw sandal race' where contestants could dress up & drag a 3rd team member for a 150m run. Very entertaining!

Japanese Candy - Mini Hamburgers

So these hamburgers weren't actually sweet.  They tried to replicate an actual hamburger and chips.  Once again, did not eat as it was too revolting haha.  Still fun to make though.