On July 17th & 18th, 2010, we attended the Mountain View Obon Festival at the Mountain View Buddhist Temple. Grandma and Grandpa drove up from L.A. to keep me company while Mommy and Daddy helped
out. I had a great time. I had shaved ice, spam musubi, corn dogs, and M&M's. I also got to play games where I won prizes! I can't wait to go next year.
M&M's.
Lauren, Erin's sister.
Cherry Blossom Queen.
Uncle Joel & Auntie Christine.
This is Mari. She babysits me sometimes.
Erin, Brianna, and us.
Obon 2011
We went to Obon again this year. It was great fun. I got to play all kinds of games like Grab Bag, Duck Pond, Shooting Gallery, and Bingo! This
year I put on my new Hapi Coat and danced. After Odori everyone got M&M's! This was the best!
Obon time! This was another great Obon. I got to eat shave ice,
udon, and spam musubi. I got to play games like shooting gallery, duck pond, grab bag, and putt-putt golf. I even helped out this year.
I helped Daddy at the Grab Bag booth. To make this Obon even more special, my dad's cousin Uncle Gavin and his girlfriend Chunny came down. He said he'll definitely be back next year.
Not too many pictures from Obon this year. Everyone helped out more than ever. Daddy worked the Bingo Booth most of the day
Saturday, and Mommy worked at the game booths, Girl Scout Drink Booth, and Strawberry Shortcake! Of course, Jordyn also helped
out at the Girl Scout's booth, Shooting Gallery, and at the Gold Fish Pond. Not to be out done, both Connor and Tyler worked at
Duck Pond, Grab Bag, and Gold Fish. What a weekend!
As Connor gets older, he helps out more and more at Obon. This year Connor could be found handing out prizes at the Duck Pond
and the Goldfish booth. It's not all work though. Connor also played at the Grab Bag booth, Duck Pond, Shooting Gallery, Dime Toss,
and Add 'Em Up. Prizes this year included boomerangs, swords, water pistols, poppers, and, this year's favorite, whoopee cushions.
Not to mention, he ate a ton of food - spam musubi, french fries, and corn dogs!
Another Obon came and went. Connor continues to help out at Obon every year. Just like last summer, Connor helped at the Duck Pond and
Goldfish booth. And also just like last year, he ate all manner of food. I think the spam musubi is still his favorite, although the corn dogs and french fries are all up and coming.
This year Connor helped out at Grab Bag. This game is meant for really little kids. They pull a rope that reveals a secret prize. Connor
is old enough now where he can show kids what to do and then refill the prize when they're done. It wasn't all work though. He had fun
playing games too. One of his favorite is shooting gallery where he won whoopie cushions and swords. He also ate corn dogs, french
fries, spam musubi, and shave ice. Another cool thing about Obon is the Cultural Display held in YBA Hall. Connor had some of his
work for everyone to see in a nice air conditioned room. Finally, on Sunday he and Tyler (along with friend Evan) danced odori.
Oh man, this summer Obon fell on one of the hottest weekends. On Sunday it was so hot in the afternoon that attendance was way
down. The only upside was that the lines were really short. The Shooting Gallery game booth was still one of the more crowded
game booths, but the wait time wasn't very long. The big prizes were fidget spinners. I was lucky enough to win a few, so that's
all I've been playing with recently. Even though it was brutally hot, I still ate a ton of food. I had a few shave ice as you can imagine,
plus the french fries this year were outstanding. I also had strawberry shortcake, spam musubi, and the all-new beef-only
teriyaki beef skewers! Of course dancing was on Sunday, and I got a small bag of M&M's after it was all said and done.
This Obon was super busy for Mom and Dad. Mom was hard at work in the YBA Japanese Style Hot Dog booth. Normally, the YBA
makes all the spam musubi for the entire weekend. Unfortunately, the temple can no longer use the gas rice cookers until they get
properly ventilated. Since the YBA had never grilled hot dogs before, everyone was gettng used to the new process. Dad, on the other
hand, was Co-Chairing the whole Obon this year. He and Uncle Craig were busy for at least 10 months setting up and preparing for a very
different Obon without deep frying and natural gas cooking. In the end, it seemed like a pretty successful Obon. We still got to eat plenty
of our favorite foods and play our favorite games.
This year we didn't restrict ourselves to the Mountain View Buddhist Temple Obon. We also went to the San Jose Obon and Salinas Obon. Obviously, the
MVBT Obon is the one where we do the most. Not only do we eat, dance, and play games, but we also help out all over the place. Mom, Aunty Sharon, Aunty Pauline, and Aunty Betty all organize and run the YBA Hot
Dog Booth. Tyler works there too. I help out at the Shooting Gallery. Dad helps at Bingo, Color Spot, and Shooting Gallery as well. The San Jose Obon was the weekend before Mountain View's and we all went to see
Cal Poly Pomona's Touzan Taiko perform. Jordyn's good friend Serena plays taiko for Pomona so we wanted to see her. The Sunday after our Obon was the Salinas Obon. While only on Sunday, the Salinas Obon
was pretty fun. It's very similar to San Jose and Mountain View but a little smaller.
San Jose Betsuin Obon 7/14/19
Touzan Taiko at San Jose Obon!
Serena.
Braden was performing at San Jose Obon too!
MVBT Obon 7/20/19 - 7/21/19
The Mountain View Buddhist Temple Obon is the most important for us as a family. We all help out in various capacities. This usually means we're helping prep before hand and cleaning up after the
fact. Just the same, we still enjoy ourselves immensely. It's great to be with all our friends enjoying each other's company and helping the temple at the same time.
First time practicing Maui style Odori (7/16/19)!
Regular Odori rehearsal (7/18/19)!
Mason and I working the Shooting Gallery (7/20/19)!
My best bud, Mason.
Tyler and me before Odori!
Salinas Obon 7/28/19
On the last Sunday in July, Tyler wanted to go to the Salinas Obon to help support his Coast District YBA friends. Connor had never been before so he
was game to try it out and see what it was like. In the end Connor had a lot of fun. He won a 2-liter bottle of lemonade at Ring Toss and a stuffed penguin at the Dime Toss. He also got to eat gyoza, strawberry
shortcake, udon, and tempura. On our way home Connor said, "I'd go back to that Obon again".
For the past two years the COVID pandemic forced the Mountain View Buddhist Temple to forgo its traditional in-person Obon. In both 2020 and
2021 MVBT chose to have remote Obons, or watch parties, using Zoom to broadcast prerecorded videos of temple members dancing, performing taiko, presenting instructional how-to demos, and offering
testimonials. Once the video portion ended everyone played bingo. Hosted by Mike Inouye, these remote Obons were an innovative way to remember and honor those who came before us. This year, the
committee in charge of Obon decided to resume a live event but limiting it to temple members only. Food was catered by Suruki in San Mateo, game booths were erected, bingo was held in the Sangha Hall
gym, and odori took place in the circle in front of the rouka. There were live performances as well by Jun Daiko (taiko) and the temple's own ukelele club. It was great to finally come back for an
in-person live event.
At first we hadn't planned on attending. Tyler was leaving for Maui the Tuesday after, and both Deb and Connor were headed with the YBA for Disneyland the following Friday. No one wanted to test
positive for COVID before their trips so we elected to simply pick up our bento boxes and celebrate at home. Then, Connor found out that his buddy Mason would be working the Goldfish game booth. They
hadn't seen each other in quite a while so Connor was eager to spend some time with his oldest friend (they've known each other since pre-school). So, Dad asked the Obon Committee Chairperson, Doug
Sawamura, if it would be OK if we attended. As luck would have it, there was still space available, so Dad and Connor hung out for the afternoon at Obon.
COVID really put a damper on the past 3 Obons. In both 2020 and 2021 we had Obons@Home where everyone attended online. While there was a live component to the events, most of the content was made up of
dancing, taiko, food demos, and understanding "What the Temple has to offer" videos. Last year there was a limited live event but it was attended by Temple members only. This year they pulled out all the
stops and opened Obon to the public. It was a major undertaking as the Temple-owned land in back used for parking had been converted to apartments during the pandemic. It was a shock for nearly everyone when
they returned to find that there was a huge apartment building in back. While this change ensures the Temple's economic viability for years to come, the nearly 450 parking spaces were going to be sorely missed
during Obon weekend. This created an issue with the city as they did not want those cars parking in the neighboring community over the weekend potentially creating traffic and egress issues. Fortunately, the
Obon leads were able to come up with a solution where we could use a Google parking lot near the Shoreline Amphitheatre. They rented shuttle busses to ferry visitors back and forth between the parking lot and
the Temple to ease the burden of having to walk in the sweltering heat (got to 90°). While the parking issue had been solved, it was amazing how much institutional knowledge had been forgotten in just 3 years.
Everyone found themselves trying to remember how things had been done in the past. In the end, through a little trial and error everything was taken care of, and the Obon was a huge success!
Last year was Mountain View Buddhist Temple's first attempt at having an "open to the public" Obon after COVID. It was a roaring success despite all the obstacles the Obon Committee had to overcome.
Everything from the city's strict guidelines to issuing health permits to finding parking spaces for the hundreds of cars that used to park on the Temple's unused land in back were issues that had to be
resolved. After having been mentored by last year's Obon leadership, this year's Obon Committee knew what was needed and not needed. Having that knowledge opened up opportunities to bring back some favorite
foods like corn dogs and french fries. A new food item was also introduced, Chicken Curry (headed up by Deb)! The week before Obon, Connor found himself helping in a lot of different committees to get set up.
He helped at Manju, Mado Cookies, Flower Booth, and general set-up with the YBA. During Obon he helped in the Dining Hall and in the Polish Sausage booth. Otherwise, he had a lot of fun hanging out with
friends, eating, playing games, and, on Sunday, dancing!
Helping set up 7/17-19/24
Helping make manju (7/17).
Practicing odori (7/18).
Hanging signs (7/19).
Obon (Sunday) 7/21/24
Mason, Tyler, Brent, and Connor (7/21).
YBA Polish Sausage Booth (7/21).
Odori (7/21).
Odori (7/21).
Connor and Brad (7/21).
On the yagura.
Ei Ja Nai Ka.
Yagura (7/21).
Yagura (7/21).
Yagura (7/21).
Brent and Connor (7/21).
Connor, Emi, Jillian, and Brad (7/21).
Lacey, Connor, Emi, Ryan, Jillian, Brad, and Jake (7/21).
During Obon season on the peninsula and in the South Bay, San Jose Obon comes first, Mountain View second, and Palo Alto third. MVBT members enjoy going to San Jose because it's just so big. Everyone
seems to go and it's really cool to bump into people you know. It's also a great opportunity to see what the largest Obon in the nation does and to get ideas on how to improve Mountain View's Obon. However,
because it is so large it's not easy to sit and hang out with friends. Also, with Mountain View's Obon always scheduled the following weekend there is a kind of anxiety that hangs over members knowing that
they are next and that the work hasn't even begun. Now, the Palo Alto Obon, however, follows Mountain View about 2 weeks later, and Palo Alto's Obon always feels like a time when everyone can really relax
and enjoy themselves. There's time to meet with friends and sit and talk, and just relish in the fact that the work is done.
