Okinawan Obon festival

This photo taken around Grandma Masako, was of this past August when all my side of the family went home to Maui for my Uncle Les' funeral. He was a kind, generous man (topic for a future blog: ) and my mom's younger brother. Now she is the only surviving member of her family. Despite the somber circumstances, it was great to be with family, support my mom and celebrate my Uncle's life. By coincidence, we got to attend an Okinawan Obon festival, which is a way that Okinawans honor their dead ancestors. My father played music with several others for the festival and mom danced gracefully as we tried to emmulate her. Dad played the Sanshin (object pictured with Vickie) which is a three-string banjo-like musical instrument. We borrowed my Aunty Amy's hapi coats and Vickie brought her own kimonos. If you click on one of the Obon video links on the right sidebar and then scroll back up to the top of the page, you'll get to see the YouTube videos that were created and posted by dad, and you can see some of the dancing and hear the music Dad played. It was a great way for all of us to remember culturally where we come from and a wonderful introduction for Elise and Elijah!