made in Tsukuba: Yukata party

YUKATA, what is a yukata? The majority of you know what is a kimono (着物), isn't it? Well, a yukata (浴衣) is then some kind of kimono made of cotton. The yukatas are mainly used in summer because they are not so warm and they are easier to wear than kimonos. Thew latter are usually made of silk, thus one can also think that the yukata is cheap variant of the kimono. There are also yukatas which are used to be at home and even to sleep, but today we will not talk about them. On the street, there are not so many people wearing kimonos, they are usually used in parties and formal events. However, the yukata is more casual style and is now fashionable, thus, this summer there were many young couples dressed with them.

When the terrible hot and humid summer that they have here in Japan was coming to its end, a Japanese friend (Takashi) proposed to make a party where all, Japanese and foreigners had to be dressed with yukata. He is quite keen on this dress and he wanted to show us the advantages of wearing it... so he convinced us. At that Saturday, the Japanese-foreign community of Tsukuba got dressed as Japanese and went to the party in yukata.

Michael and me did not have much time to choose our dress but at least we found something that we liked it, passed us (mine a bit big, Michael's a bit small) and was not too expensive. At that afternoon, we met our friend Alma (the mexican) at home and got dressed with the help of the video that I have attached here (the DVD came with my dress!).

In order to look elegant with yukata, women are supposed to hide their curves, i.e. they recommend to big-breasted ones to use sportive bras which reduce a bit the size, and to the ones with narrow waist, that they use towels to fill the gap. The idea is to look like a stick, like the Japanese dolls (kokeshi, こけし). Finally, after almost two hours for correctly dressing the yukata, and still a while trying to get rid of our curly hairs, we went to the party looking like this...