One booth was selling cool sake--scooped up from a giant vat into little wooden boxes--and this definitely made Bradley's day!
Here was a girl dressed up as a traditional porcelein doll.
The two pictures are of one of the traditional candy-makers we saw... He began by scooping up a glob of hot candy-paste and slowly (using his fingers and delicate little sculpting tools) turned each glob into a stunning candy creation, touched up at the end with sugar-paint....
And here's a shot of a traditional metal-toy maker, who was busy fashioning figurines and rubber-band guns out of strips of pliable wiring..
We didn't have a chance to watch the entire performance, but a group of street Noh performers was acting out the story of a tragic romance...
Here's a glimpse of one of the side streets--lined with antique and import stands.
Above is a picture of some very energetic Japanese belly-dancers (they sure know how to undulate, as Bradley said...) and the crowd (almost exclusively men) intently watching and zooming in with their fancy Japanese cameras...
After dark we watched an amazing performance by Japanese fire dancers (including a spectacular sword fight). We managed to get some cool (if somewhat abstract) pictures using our camera's fireworks setting.
The finale was a choreographed buto-style dance using about 12 almost-naked dancers covered in gold and black body paint.
