I love autumn. After the long hot summer, the temperature has finally come down, typhoons have basically finished and the weather is great. On top of that, autumn is the season for festivals. Music festivals, Hawaiian festivals, farmer’s markets, cultural festivals, and my favourite: sports festival.
The 2nd weekend of October is a national holiday which promotes being active, and most communities hold some form of sports festival. My family has participated every year since we moved to Otsu in 2007. Our community members are so wonderful and encouraging, they even allow my parents to participate when they visit. My parents enjoy sports festival so much that they always try to arrange to visits so as to be here for the 2nd week of October!
Other festivals are equally enjoyable and I always feel such warmth and joy from everyone. Festivals create a special type of energy which is contagious, spreading through the crowd and the neighbourhood. Literally everyone is happy, smiling, enjoying communicating with neighbours, friends, visitors and even random strangers! At my English conversation school in Otsu, we often hold events connected to these local festivals. We can enjoy them together and always have a good time.
I love festivals and attend as many as I can each autumn and I do my best to participate in, volunteer for and promote them. Autumn is awesome!
Edward, Smith’s School of English Otsu
Leave a Reply