San Fernando Valley’s Obon Festival

It’s summer and you know what this means. It means hot weather, sweaty people and festivals. One particular festival that occurs every summer is the Obon Festival. This festival, while most well known in Japan occurs outside of Japan as well. Not long ago, I had the opportunity to attend one of the biggest Obon Festivals in Southern California. It was San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple’s Obon Festival held in Pacoima. Yup, the valley where it’s super hot if isn’t already hot enough elsewhere in So Cal.

I got to the festival rather early where I managed to find street parking. Considering how early I got there, I’m thinking I might have been able to obtain on site parking but the street I entered showed no way for me to get into the on site parking lot so I said forget it. lol Since, I didn’t park on site, I was a bit confused with where things were. I mean the “yagura” area and food booths were obvious, but for whatever idiotic reason, I couldn’t figure out how to get to the flea market. Yes, I said flea market. Since I heard this particular Obon Festival had a flea market, I was thrilled at the idea of finding something I like and buying it.

I ended up having to ask someone how to get to the flea market and the person that helped me probably thought I was an idiot. Lol You see, if you visit the raffle booth, you’ll most likely catch sight of an entranceway that leads to four places: a stage area, the Bingo game area, an indoor udon stall and the on site parking lot. Being the cheapo I am, I avoided the raffle booth, which explains how I was so oblivious to the so called entranceway. Yet it’s not like I didn’t pass by the raffle both since I did purchase Okinawan donuts from a stall adjacent to the raffle booth. Heh. Oh, and if you’re wondering, the Okinawan donuts weren’t all that great but it could be because I had purchased the sugar free ones. Meh. The man at the booth did say that if I didn’t like them, I could return them but would I really do such a thing? Besides, I didn’t even get to try the donuts until the following day so partaking in a return would have been impossible anyway.

Anyway, back to the festival. The Bingo hall was where the flea market was being held. I headed there immediately only to experience disappointment. The flea market was super small and shouldn’t have been called a flea market in the first place. I’m not saying the “flea market” wasn’t nice however it didn’t meet my expectations of what a flea market was supposed to be like. When you think of flea markets, you think of items being on the ground, sold by various vendors often outdoors under the hot sun. I liked how this “flea market” was indoors but it was so not a flea market as the majority of items were simply on a long table (tables that were put together actually). Lol There was also an auction area but I avoided that area because I figured things would get pricey and I didn’t really need to bid on things I didn’t need or want. So, did I end up with anything? Surprisingly yes. I found a coaster set featuring 10 different woodblock prints. I liked it and decided to buy it. (Being the cheapo I was that day, I pondered about it for a bit and then decided to just buy it.) It’s pretty much safe to say that they’re brand new and have never been used. Best of all is how the coasters were actually made in Japan. I know this sounds weird, but having been to Japan before, I cannot tell you how so many things for sale in Japan aren’t actually made in Japan. (While it may not be that much of a big deal, a lot of the souvenirs in Japan are actually made in China. Why? Eh, probably because it’s cheaper to produce there… But it’s so trippy since most gift recipients would want a gift that’s not only from Japan, but actually made in Japan as well.)

Another perk to this coaster set was how it featured Mount Fuji. Of all the places I visited in Japan, I unfortunately did not visit Fuji-san. I know what you’re thinking, but there’s always a next time should I visit the land of the rising sun again. If this perk wasn’t enough, I loved how ol school the art was in my coasters. Although I may have ended up with just one item from the Obon Festival’s Flea Market, I was happy because I think I got my item for a good deal.

After purchasing my coasters, I finally visit the stage area and bonsai display area. The stage area was interesting simply because it was small and showcased Japanese internment history (or something along those lines). I found this to be both odd and amusing since this was a festival and I wasn’t expecting to encounter anything gloomy. But if you know me, you know that I do enjoy history (to an extent of course) and because of this, I was probably the youngest one to care enough to read these historical boards. Unfortunately, the information was a tad bit lengthy and I didn’t finish reading everything.

Gloomy things aside, I had the chance to view some bonsais which weren’t exactly eye catching to me but were quite pleasing to look at nonetheless. Another thing that was nice to look at were the dolls on display inside a room across from the yagura. Unfortunately, no specific doll caught my eye. Like the bonsais, they were just nice to look at.

I was going to visit some other room featuring who knows what, but caught sight of an attractive guy that made eye contact with me. So, what do I do? I don’t enter the room. lol Seriously, what is my problem, right? I don’t know.

Moving along…

Eventually, I stayed put near the yagura area to enjoy some taiko performances by San Fernando Valley Taiko, which upon completion led to the start of obon dancing.

Overall, this festival had a very laid back vibe to it and I liked that. I just hated the heat and how it took so long for me to figure out where the flea market was. Would I go again next year? Not sure as I probably would opt to attend a different Obon Festival instead.