10,000 Eisa Dancers on Kokusai

No, I didn't get blown away in Typhoon Haikui -- sorry for the belated post.  I've been busy starting my new job as Field Office Coordinator at the Red Cross here at Kadena.  I love it so far!

Loren and I trekked to downtown Naha today for the 10,000 Eisa Dancers festival.  In true Loren-fashion, he didn't want to pay for parking in the city.  So we brought our bicycles, parked at Camp Kinser and pedaled about two miles down to Kokusai Street.

Loren prepping the bikes

Kokusai Street is the main shopping district in downtown Naha.  Shops line the sides of Kokusai -- it's a lot like Chicago's Miracle Mile.  The whole street was shut down for the Eisa dancers.

Eisa is a form of folk dancing that is unique to Okinawa.  There's a lot of chanting, drum-pounding and brightly-colored costumes.  The whole street just reverberates with the boom of the drums.  

The Eisa dancers range from toddlers to the elderly.  I loved watching parents following their children with video cameras and supplying them with water and juice whenever the parade stopped.  Adorable.  

Here's a hastily-edited video of some of the performances:

The weather was insanely hot. The parade-workers kept throwing water buckets onto the street to cool it off for the dancers.  But it was definitely worth the heat and subsequent bike ride back to Camp Kinser.  The parade was one of my favorite experiences so far in Okinawa!