2026 Kayashima Shrine Summer Festival / 令和八年 萱島神社夏祭り / Dedicated to my friend and colleague Inge...

This post started after talking with my friend and colleague, Inge. Since we probably wouldn't see each other for a while during the summer break, she asked me to send her a couple of pictures. So the nearby summer festival at the Kayashima Jinja gave me a chance to do some interesting photography and get a couple of good shots for Inge. I chose the two shots above because they illustrate the fun and crowded atmosphere of the night fair where people go to meet up with friends and buy delicious summer snacks and drinks. My photos feature my favorite festival treat, tamago senbei: a crisp shrimp cracker with a fried egg, savory sauce and mayonnaise. As I was enjoying my tamago senbei, many people around me were enjoying theirs as well. I hope you like these shots, Inge!

The shrine ・ 神社 ・ jinja

Of course, being a visual anthropologist, I wanted to do more in this post and show the context and components of this occasion to add to my several previous posts about the summer festival and other events at or near the shrine. Kayashima Jinja, while small, is famous because its primary deity is a large tree. When the Keihan Kayashima Train Station was constructed, it was built around the tree. The tree/deity is said to be quite powerful and generous, so it attracts a lot of people at new years, the setsubun celebration and summer festival. I have included a list of previous VAoJ reporting with more facts and observations at the end of this post readers and viewers who want more specific information.

This year, this sacred wood branch「御神木の枝」which is part of the camphor tree「クスノキ」at Kayashima Shrine considered to be a Shinto deity「神 ・ kami」was prominently displayed.

The local standing drink bar ・ 地元の立ち呑み ・ jimoto no tachinomi

For several years, this drinking establishment always sold corn-on-the-cob roasted in butter and soy sauce. I always looked forward to this treat. But recently the tachinomi was bought by new owners who decided not to sell it this year. Very unfortunate...

The night fair ・ 夜店 ・ yomise

An egg on a shrimp cracker with sauce ・ たまごせんべい ・ tamago senbei

Yum! おいしい! うまい!

The trash ・ ごみ ・ gomi

Yes, Japan is such a clean country... And who says there are no trash bins in public? And don't forget to seperate your recyclable trash...

Goodnight ・ おやすみ ・ oyasumi

It was probably too early when I limped back home struggling to carry my canes, camera and snacks. For many the party was just getting started... But for me, I needed to get home to watch the Hanshin Tigers baseball game.

Day 2: The portable shrine ・ 神輿 ・ mikoshi

Back in the day, the parading of the portable shrine or mikoshi, a large one for the adults and a smaller one for the children, to bestow the blessings of the local deity to the residents of the shrine parish, was grand, energetic and exciting. But in the last several years it has become smaller, mellower and easier; it seems more obligatory rather than fulfilling. This is due to demographic trends and shifts in most areas of Japan (i.e. decreases in birth rates and an aging society), a lack of interest and involvement in neighborhood events (much of the neighborhood has been gentrified and turned into a bed-town) and global warming (every year seems to be getting hotter and more humid). The COVID-19 pandemic certainly did not help. In other words, the majority of participants are older people along with fewer young adults and children willing and able to participate in a difficult, laborious and grueling undertaking under the hot summer sun. The adult mikoshi is now carried on a truck rather than the sweating necks and shoulders of strong, young men (and women). Culture changes. Humans need to adapt to a changing environment (ironically caused by the humans thmeselves...).

Previous VAOJ posts on the summer festival at the Kayashima Shrine:

Here is a list of VAoJ posts related to Kayashima Shrine. It probably is not a complete list, but hopefully these are good sources to explore to find more information. As this blog/website is organized by chronological date and time, these posts seem to be a mish-mash of discourses influenced by my observations, interests and personal circumstances during various ethnographic moments. In relation to the VAoJ website/project as a whole, it is interesting to see when I moved from theories, methods and work of others to my own (auto)ethnographic endeavors and productions. It is not so surprising that this change occurred around the time I obtained my Nikon D-700 camera. It is also interesting (and nostaligic in a way) to see pauses and breaks of my work due to injuries, hospitalizations, the COVID-19 pandemic and other important happenings. So rather than a mish-mash, VAoJ might better be described as a multimodal exercise, where one can explore the posts and put together various pieces of the puzzle that is the visual anthropology of Japan.

2013 summer festival in 5 parts:

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri I: The Mikoshi, posted July 30, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri II: Evening Activities, posted July 31, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri III: Tamago Senbei, posted August 1, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri IV: People, posted August 2, 2013.

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri V: くわしく, posted August 3, 2013.

2014 summer festival

Visual Anthropology of Japan, Local Matsuri, 2014 Edition, posted August 17, 2014.

2018 tondo matsuri post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2018/01/remains-of-2018-kayashima-shrine-tondo.html Remains of the 2018 Kayashima Shrine Tondo Festival, posted January 15, 2018.

2018 setsubun festival

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2018/02/2018-setsubun-shots-kayashima-jinjya.html 2018 Setsubun Shots @ Kayashima Jinja, posted February 24, 2018.

2018 summer festival post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2018/07/kayashima-jinja-summer-festival-mikoshi.html Kayashima Jinja Summer Festival: Mikoshi Procession Viewed from the Cool(er) Convenience of My Window, posted July 31, 2018

2019 setsubun festival post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2019/02/local-setsubun-celebration-at-kayashima.html Local Setsubun Celebration at Kayashima Shrine, Osaka, Japan, Feb. 3, 2019, posted February 3, 2019.

2019 jalan-jalan post on tachinomiya refurbish

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2019/06/jalan-jalan-68-neighborhood-tachinomiya.html Jalan Jalan (68): Neighborhood Tachinomiya Under Construction - a noren to protect the entrance and a cover for the whole building during renovation... posted June 19, 2019.

2019 jalan-jalan post on tachinomiya new signage

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2019/06/jalan-jalan-69-and-heres-new-signage.html Jalan Jalan (69): And here's the new signage for the neighborhood tachinomiya (I wish I could have been there for the unveiling...), posted June 24, 2019.

2020 new year's post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2020/01/ringing-in-reiwa-2-kayashima-jinja.html Ringing in Reiwa 2 @ Kayashima Jinja, posted January 3, 2020.

2022 summer festival post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-subdued-2022-kayashima-summer.html The subdued 2022 Kayashima summer festival - no children and the mikoshi is carried on a truck... posted July 24, 2022.

2023 new year's post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2023/01/first-visit-to-kayashima-shrine-for-new.html First visit to Kayashima Shrine for the New Year 2023, posted January 3, 2023

2023 summer festival

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2023/08/kayashima-summer-festival-july-2023.html Kayashima Summer Festival (July, 2023), posted August 2, 2023

2025 summer festival post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2025/07/kayashima-shrine-summer-matsuri-july-27.html Kayashima Shrine Summer Matsuri (July 27, 2025) / 萱島神社夏祭り（2025年7月27日, posted July 27, 2025.

2026 new year's post

https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2026/01/kayashima-shrine-after-new-years-rush.html Kayashima Shrine 萱島神社 After the New Year's Rush, posted January 4, 2026.

New Book!「The Art of Getting By: Wisdom and Resilience from China’s Migrant Women」by Kevin Ming

My friend and colleague Kevin Ming has published his new book, The Art of Getting By: Wisdom and Resilience from China’s Migrant Women (Algora Publishing 2026). Here is a brief description from the publisher:

Sound Bite

A work that is simultaneously ethnographic fieldwork, social theory, and intimate portraiture, The Art of Getting By takes us into a hidden world and nestles in, learning some of the ways people keep themselves intact in tough circumstances.

Introduction

The Art of Getting By: Wisdom and Resilience from China's Migrant Women invites readers into the disappearing alleyways and vibrant communities of southern China's urban villages, offering an intimate look at the lives of poor migrant women navigating worlds of exposure and exploitation. Through what Kevin David Ming calls a "vagrant anthropology," this book chronicles two decades of walking, listening, and storying with women who work in the sexual labor industry, primarily in falang (hair salon brothels), but also beyond, in China, Malaysia, and Thailand.

This unique narrative gathers fragments of life—snatches of song, shared meals, daily gossip, and poignant personal histories—to illuminate the ingenuity, resilience, and complex desires of its subjects. We meet Wangjing, whose dreams of a modern kitchen reflect aspirations for respectability and security for her family. We learn from Qi Qi about the careful art of "fishing" for customers in upscale hotel bars, a delicate dance of observation and performance. Christine's story reveals a love for literature and a quiet determination to write her own future, even amidst challenging circumstances. These women, often dismissed or stereotyped, are shown to be adept at forming connections and finding temporary inhabitance in worlds designed for their estrangement.

Beyond individual portraits, the book uncovers the broader forces shaping these lives: the relentless pace of urban development that obliterates communities, the "cannibalizing capitalist present" that scavenges on networks of care, and the enduring weight of filial obligations. It challenges conventional notions of hope, offering instead a vision of "present hope"—an energetic continuance born from struggle and the indeterminacy of an uncertain future.

For more information: https://www.algora.com/product/the-art-of-getting-by/

The Re/Construction: January 13 ~ June 13, 2026

This rather large post documents the construction of a new apartment complex (corrected name on the apartment signage:「フォレストグクリエオーレ城垣町 I II」or, Forest Creaole Shirogakicho I and II) in my neighborhood very close to my own house. The overall saga begins with two earlier posts, about the demolition of the previous Showa era house:

「Deconstruction: Demolishing a Showa Era House in the Neighborhood (this post is still under construction...)」: https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2025/09/deconstruction-demolishing-showa-era.html

and the "pre-construction" of the apartment complex:

「Pre/Re/Construction...」：https://visualanthropologyofjapan.blogspot.com/2026/01/prereconstruction.html

The main construction began on January 13 and was supposed to be finished in May. Construction ran longer than promised, continuing well into June. The crews started out at 8:00 AM and finished around 6:00 PM, Monday through Saturday. They also worked on some Sundays and national holidays. The finished product consists of two 3-story buildings with 12 1LDK apartment units in each building (for a total of 24 new apartments).

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS A SOUND-ONLY VIDEO. PLAY AT MAXIMUM VOLUME ON YOUR DEVICE TO GET AN IDEA OF THE REAL TIME EXPERIENCE... This is what woke me up almost everyday for the last 6 months. No snooze button, no shut off button...

This noise pollution has been inconsiderate, disruptive and stressful to say the least, for me, my family and many neighbors (who have sometimes complained to the workers). Sometimes we were notified before hand about work on Sundays and national holidays (the documents are included with the photos below), but many times we were not. Calls to the company headquarters went unanswered on Sundays and national holidays as their office was closed, despite the construction workers themselves having to work.

This documentation is not so scientific as the photos were taken haphazardly in terms of time and number of exposures in each photographic session. I tried to capture the weekly changes on Sundays when I could, but there were some periods of illness and hospitalization that prevented me at times. Most of the photos are structural only, without the construction workers or people walking by the site. Still, this project is ethnographic in that is displays the contrast between Showa era and contemporary architecture, contemporary construction methods (which includes far too few workers - usually 2-4 people - resulting in the slow progress) and the gentrification of the neighborhood (within walking distance of the Kayashima Keihan Train station) that adds to the bed town environment where residents do not know each other or interact as a community. This bed town gentrification unfortunately jives with obervations made in my prior research of the neighborhood fall festival, local Shinto shrine and demographic changes (aging society and low birth rates) that have been ongoing in Japan for nearly 30 years.

What follows are 152 photos, 4 documents, 1 timely social media post and information, diagrams and photos from the rental property company. It is a lot of raw data to digest. Good luck and yoroshiku for going through with it all.

January 13-17

January 18-25

January 27-31

February 1-11 (photos taken on 2/11, National Foundation Day, a national holiday but they were still working and being noisy, even on a rainy day...)

On February 3, we received a notification that construction would block traffic on 2/19, 2/20, 2/21, 3/2, 3/3 and 3/4.

February 12-14

February 15-20

February 21-23

February 24 - March 1

March 2 (Street closed for construction...)

March 3-8

Click on the article for a clear view.

On Facebook, March 16, 2026... I don't know... I haven't seen this kind of curtain in Japan before. And certainly the current construction in my neighborhood does nothing to lower noise pollution or improve the aesthetics of the construction site. As for politeness toward neighbors and functional beauty... NO! These are naive foreign stereotypes and assumptions that are not true. Sources like Japan Daily run rampant with such posts.

March 9-15

March 16-23

March 24 - April 12

We received the following notification that the construction crews would be working on a Sunday (4/26/26) and during part of the Golden Week Holidays (May 4, 5 and 6, 2026).

April 13-18

April 19-26

April 27 - May 3

May 4-10

May 11-17

We received this notice which stated that the street would be closed on 5/13/26.

May 18-24

May 25-31

June 1-8

June 9-13

From the Rental Property Website

The following data and photos are "courtesy of" the Rental Property compnay. Click on the image to get a clear view.

https://rent.sumirin-residential.co.jp/rent/?keyword=%E9%96%80%E7%9C%9F%E5%B8%82

Since today's date is June 13, 6 months after I started photographing the main construction, it seems logical to finally post this monster. I promise to add updates if there are any major changes and/or I have the opportunity to view the apartments myself in an open house. For now, I hope for a little peace and quiet, at least until the 24 new tenants move in...