San Jose Obon Festival - 2009.....Been there...Done that!

This past weekend we had our San Jose Obon....Obon is one of those things that no matter where you live, you always come back to your childhood church to help out and attend the festivities. Now that I live in Elk Grove, it seems that I will always find myself in San Jose at this time of year...I've come to accept my fate....but that is one of the things that is neat about Obon....not only are we there to celebrate those that have passed before us but it is a time to gather with family and friends...no matter where they call home...for that weekend, we all find ourselves at "home" in San Jose. My Mom tells me stories of the Obon festival when she was a kid growing up in San Jose and watching the dancers from the window above the store where she used to live. Growing up in the streets of Japantown and hanging out in my family store, it is somewhat sad to see the "old" timers getting up in age. Japantown has changed and grown since I was a kid....Hanks Coffee Shop is now a ramen place....Uncle Bo is no longer dry cleaning clothes and Dobashi's is now replaced by a fancy, expensive grocery store. But some of the old guard is still there...my families store is still owned and run by my Uncle James (warning: Do not touch anything, you will get scolded...), Santos is still owned by a "Santo" and you can still find Mr. and Mrs. Santo working in the back and I can still walk behind the counter and into the back area of the manju shop to say hi to Tom and Judy. It's things like these that make J-town a special place to me. I don't know what it will be like when my kids are grown up but one thing will be for sure....a part of them will always call San Jose "home" and for that weekend in July, they will find themselves there celebrating those that have passed before them.....

Auntie Linda, Auntie Leslie, Uncle Todd, Uncle Steve and Justin getting ready to dance.

Cori in her Bando yukata

Simply beautiful.....

Bando girls...Kiana, Jenny and Cori

Justin in action

Mitchell T., Mitchell K., and Scottie

Kiana, Jenny and Cori

The Boyz

Auntie Leslie and Justin

The Bando group leads the line of dancers...all 1,200 of them....

Justin danced for the first time.....all two hours of it....

Bando girls...Marissa, Carly, Aly, Trisha, Auntie Lynne and Cori

Bando girls...beautiful and elegant.

A note to one of our dear Bando family members who missed Obon because she was not feeling well....we hope she gets well soon!!

A picture of the simple yet beautiful obi