Japan Festival, part 1

   Today was the annual Japan Festival of Greater Kansas City, and to me it was the best one yet! The weather was cool & gorgeous, with an unbelievably blue sky & fluffy clouds. A koi banner marked the day:

   We were then greeted by a large torii (gate) in the lobby of the Carlsen Center. This made me long to go back to Miyajima. But to make it more authentic, they really should have flooded the lobby. And had deer milling around begging for food. Also, monkeys.

   The usual cosplayers & mischief-makers were in attendance. A few girls wore animal ears & tails (bear, fox, wolf); including one who I would have SWORN was Cat from work, in a tight leopard dress with tail & ears to complete the look. Something about Japanese culture draws some strange & socially-awkward kids (myself excluded, of course). In my first year Japanese class, a girl showed up wearing a fox tail more than once. Here's a giddy "schoolgirl":

   And an extensive bonsai exhibit. KC has a local bonsai club. I wonder if there is a counter-club for bonsai killers such as myself? The gentleman I spoke with gave me the key to what I've done wrong: since bonsai are trees, you really need to keep them outside. (With the challenge being to keep them alive over the winter, of course.)

   A bazaar with many toys, home goods, crafts, jewelry, Kokeshi dolls, textiles, dishes & more! I bought my first two Kokeshi dolls. Not that I need to start another collection, but I saw these two & they really spoke to me. Beautifully painted, with great color & expression.

An exhibit of a variety of kimono & yukata, and samurai armor:

   Display of model shrines (I was surprised that I have visited all but ONE of the shrines on display: Himeji-Jo near Osaka & Kyoto, Nijo-jo in Kyoto, Itsukushima Jinja in Miyajima, Todai-ji in Nara, Horyu-ji & Kasuga-taisha in Nara, Tosho-gu in Nikko, & Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto...I've missed only Ginkaku-ji so far (Had it not been for rainy weather in Kyoto that slowed me down, I would have made it!).

   Custom t-shirt printing. Choose a design & they'd add your name & print it on an inkjet transfer, and iron it onto a shirt for you:

   Cosplay contest entrants. As strange as cosplay can be, these were some elaborate costumes; the kids really went all-out. I didn't recognize any of the characters. I think the second-place finisher (the girl in black, second from the right) is dressed as a popular visual kei artist, Hide: