The Autumn Festival

I met with my friend in Nagoya this morning. He is currently working for a consulting company and starting up his own NPO. Over coffee he updated me with what he has been doing and what he is planning to do. His determination, thoughtfulness, enthusiasm, and dedication impressed me greatly. Our reunion meeting was brief, but I got a lot out of it.

Before noon I took a train back to my home, for I was supposed to carry a portable shrine with elementary school kids in my neighborhood. Today a local shrine was holding its annual festival and the tradition is that elementary school kids in neighborhoods surrounding the shrine carry portable shrines (called mikoshi in Japanese), walk around the neighborhoods, and collect donations. I ended up carrying a portable shrine most of the time, for there weren't many kids from my neighborhood. Although the number of houses in my hometown seems to be increasing, that of children seems to have been decreasing.

I don't think it's a bad idea to change the tradition and ask junior high schoolers to join the portable-shrine thing. I think it's good for both elementary and junior high school kids to have a chance to meet and work with older or younger kids in their own neighborhoods.