Chinese New Year

Over the weekend we visited Yokohama's Chinatown to see the Chinese New Year Parade. It was a fun, colorful, crowded, and vibrant afternoon.
The dragons were of course my favourite, and made me a little homesick for the Chinese New Year celebrations in New York's Chinatown,
which were much less organised, much more chaotic, but as a result you were able to get right in the middle of all the action. There were no confetti
canons at this new year festival, and every time a firecracker went off a team off staff was there almost immediately to sweep up the mess. Police
walked along with the parade to make sure not one single spectator had their foot over the sidewalk curb. It was very Japanese, and totally different
from what we were used to in New york.




























We loved seeing all the beautiful traditional costumes worn in the parade- the men on high stilts were particularly fun. The dragon
was the coolest though- it was amazing how they made it move all over and through the crowd with so much personality. Everyone in the
crowded kept reaching up an leaning in to touch it ( I think it must be a good luck thing) and the puppeteers really gave everyone a
chance- it doubled back and spent time dancing in all different directions, and they passed it over each side of the street several times
per section. After the parade Ryan and I hurried over to make a reservation at an all you can eat, highly reviewed Dim Sum place, and killed
time waiting for our table by exploring the streets of Chinatown, which is always a fun time<3



















Happy Chinese New Year!
Love,
From Japan,
Kathryn