The first time i had been to Bon Odori festival in Malaysia was ages ago. When i was still clad in primary school uniform. I somehow recollect that the music being vibrant, the crowd, joyous and the food, fantastic. It’s been a while since i had been to this festival. I remember being fascinated by the girls in Japanese traditional cloths and clogs too. I wished i had a pair of those.

- Bon Odori 2008 taken from http://www.daisycave.com/ -

Unfortunately, I did not make it to Bon Odori Festival 2008 for some reason. Instead i browsed through some blogs to read about it. Apparently, the air of festivity didn’t not cease after so many years. I see beautiful photos of people smiling and obviously enjoying themselves. There is one thing particular thing that is different this time though. What the hell is Sushi King’s sushi bar doing at Bon Odori?! LOL!

- Sushi King taken from http://www.daisycave.com/ -

I noticed that most people describe the girls at the festival as wearing ‘kimono‘. Once upon a time (Muahaha! Actually it was a few days ago), i too made the same mistake. A friend pointed out that the girls are actually wearing ‘yukata‘ (not Yutaka the Japanese hunk please) instead of ‘kimono‘. While ‘kimono‘ is the Japanese traditional garment with thick layering, ‘yukata‘ is a Japanese summer garment with less layers, worn during the warm summer and at particularly during summer events like the Bon Odori.

- Kimono (top) vs. Yukata (bottom) -

‘Yukata‘ is a cooling garment to wear. With wide sleeves and made of cotton. In fact, it is just a layer of cotton cloth wrapped across the body (like a bath robe) with an ‘obi‘ (sash/belt) around the waist to keep the whole garment intact. It is not to be mistaken for a ‘kimono‘ since a ‘kimono’ is usually made of silk or synthetic fibre and has usually 12 or more separate pieces that makes up the whole garment. Now, you can imagine how warm it would be to wear such garment during the warm weather. It would be like walking around in a portable sauna.

If a female were to have worn a ‘kimono’ instead of a ‘yukata’ to Bon Odori Festival, i think the Red Crescent will have a field day.