ルミナリエ Luminarie

I too went to the Luminarie and it was lovely. It was way crowded but everyone was in such a happy festive mood, and they were playing this great choral music.

I thought it was really funny though that despite the recorded announcements saying "Luminarie is very crowded, please move forward in an orderly fashion without blocking the road and taking photographs.", that's exactly what everyone was doing. Come on though, you can't tell the Japanese not to take pictures at a tourist attraction. It's one of their national pastimes, right after riding a bicycle while holding an umbrella, and right before ikebana...

They also had tons of great food stands, so it was almost like a carnival except for the part where you're freezing your ass off. No, I jest... the night I went it wasn't actually that cold, and I got to have a yummy candy apple so I was happy.

And! And, and, and! On the way back there were several street performers who had set up to catch the Luminarie crowds and I got to see a fire eater. He did a pretty impressive trick where he stood on a platform on top of a rolling wheel and juggled flaming torches, and he finished by gargling gasoline and spitting fire! Pretty damn sweet. I wish I'd gotten I picture of that... And, because it's the Kansai he had a great comic patter that was almost as good as the show itself.

OK more updates later, including some more Kyoto pics! Goog Morninger!