Atago jinja, which is pretty near my house, had a summer festival yesterday and today! I looked up the festival online, and saw that yesterday had a Yukata festival, so I decided to take a look.

I did not imagine that so many steps were involved though:

And this wasn’t even the half of it. Maybe a quarter or a fifth.

 And soon, I was led along some pretty unfamiliar paths

Through a few gates

Until I started to question if I was really still in Fukuoka. I mean, I live in an area full of buildings. This looks… rural. And I could hear chickens and other animals.

But finally, I arrived at Atago Jinja.

There were a few stalls, but I didn’t get anything, because I ate before I came.

But I did drink in the view, which was absolutely gorgeous!

 And another shot of the place:

Anyway, the main reason I was here was the Yukata festival, and I arrived about 15 minutes before it started! Apparently, this is the 17th year that it’s being held! No wonder loads of people brought their kids here to take part.

I took so many photos it was embarassing. Plus, I took photos using my DSLR AND my phone (and to make things more embarassing, all my photos here are phone photos. I imported my DSLR photos to the iPad, but they all looked so blurry that I got disheartened and didn’t finish editing them)

But I’ll spare you all the agony of going through tons of photos of little kids wearing yukata’s and just post one photo:

This little girl (black Yukata dress) was the first place winner! All participants received prizes, but the top three received something extra!

By the time it was over, the sun was beginning to set.

And I found an observation deck, so up I went.

Also, this “let’s make it a story-telling style by using minimal words” is really not working for me. But I don’t have much to say either, and like… both are bad, I guess? I should perhaps try to write more, or use less photos.

Anyway, there were some kids chilling at the observation deck, so I grabbed this photo and left. I realise that one reason why I like my phone photos is because I can make panoramas very easily with them. Or at least, much more easily than having to stitch everything together.

Although I really should be using my DSLR more. All the photos seem to turn out blurry! I don’t know if it’s the lens or just me being really lousy with photographs.

Anyway, this has gone on for a bit too long hahaha. And my rambling isn’t even related to the post at hand. But I hope you enjoyed the photos(: