The rains stayed away this year, and Matsumoto enjoyed a better than usual Bon Bon.
That the event is now at its maximum capacity, with 300 teams taking part, is a testament to the festival’s growing popularity. The route has been stretched again, to accommodate all the participants (28,000), which seems to have solved the standstill progress of the last couple of years. This year the music could also be clearly heard wherever you were, which helps a lot when you are trying to dance to it!

There also seemed to be a lot less drunken buffoonery this year – teams that set out with the intention of getting plastered/making a nuisance of themselves are no longer welcome. For sure, the whole evening is about having fun with your mates and knocking back a few beers, and now every group can do that safely. Well, almost. I don’t know who put the TaeKwonDo group behind the kick boxing team!

With the weather holding off it also meant the crowds could enjoy the spectacle with their families. Which teams won all the prizes (best choreography, costumes etc)? Who cares! Everyone dancing was a winner this year, and by nine o’clock in the evening the whole town let out a hurrah as the last chorus finished and the fat lady, finally, stopped singing.
Make a date in your diaries – August 1st 2009 is Bon Bon night!