For the last few days it has been rather noisy in my neighborhood. The main campus of Kyoto university is nearby and currently, the yearly university festival is taking place. Throughout the day, especially in early afternoon, you can hear bands playing and announcements of stuff I cannot quite make out…
This seems to be a time when all the university clubs put on a great show. For example, there are groups devoting themselves to learning traditional dances – Western traditional dances, mind you, and they are even taking the time to make their own costumes. According to a friend of mine who is Bulgarian, they do Bulgarian dances as well, and the costumes they make look even better than the real thing.
Foodstalls are present as well of course, and there are people – mostly girls, dressed in surprisingly scanty clothing for November – who hand out little flyers to draw people to other places and performances that do not take place outdoors. Yesterday evening there was apparently even a fire-performance, but I did not go there after all.
Besides all the students on and around campus, this weekend there are many tourists walking through the neighborhood chasing the momiji equipped with little maps. I hope there will be something left to see when I go to the imperial villa next Friday…