Hanamatsuri (Flower festival) I went to Hana-matsuri, or Flower festival, with my family yesterday. Originally, Hana-matsuri celebrates Buddha's birthday and has a long tradition. Now, however, it is not so popular as Xmas in Japan. Many people in the festival I went to may not know what Hana-matsuri celebrates, because the festival was not traditional style, even the date was not the traditional date. The main street was closed for pedestrian and there were many booths. Traditionally, people pour sweat teas over a statue of Buddha decorated with flowers. The statue and teas were set but the place was the end of the street, and the other part was free from Buddhist tradition. I enjoyed the festival but I thought of Buddha only when a Buddhist monk gave me a sweat tea.