In Japan ’tis the season to look to the sky for swimming fish!
May 5th is the holiday formerly known as Boys’ Day, but now the charming flags called koi nobori fly for girls too. On Children’s Day, any child can be the carp that climbs the waterfall to become a dragon.
In the month leading up to May 5th, you can find fish flags flying in all sorts of places
In front of Tokyo Tower…
where this delightfully colorful school…
…even flies at night
At temples like Nishirai-Daishi…
…and Senso-ji, they’re absolutely huge
Some shopping streets—like this one near Kameido Station—festoon the entire street with carp
While others like this shop in Kawagoe content themselves with selling them
The carp become art in Roppongi near the 21_21 Design Sight Gallery, each one different
They can be seen flying spontaneously on a kite string in Yoyogi Park
Or gracing this month’s costume of the Peeing Statue at Hamamatsucho Station
They even become the excuse for a month-long festival out in Tatebayashi (Gunma Prefecture), where over five thousand fish flags flutter over the stretch of river near Tatebayashi Station.
It’s well worth searching them out, because like Japan’s spring flower extravaganzas, they lift even the most jaded spirits with their exuberance.
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Jonelle Patrick writes novels set in Japan, produces the monthly Japanagram newsletter, and blogs at Only In Japan and The Tokyo Guide I Wish I’d Had
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