Thank you to everyone who participated in the Imonikai Event! It was a perfect day, great location, and lots of great company and gratuitous amounts of food. Special thanks goes to Yamagata Prefecture for sending along some gifts to help us celebrate the season and to Ian and Yoko-san for making this wonderful day possible!!! Here are some pictures from the event.
Just a quick note to encourage everyone to RSVP for this exciting event. In Yamagata Prefecture in particular, and its neighbours in general, imonikai (imoni get-togethers) are an important autumn tradition. Tourists flock to Yamagata for the Autumn Imoni Festival (Akino Imonikai) on the Mamigasaki River in early September, and in 2006 the festival served imoni to over thousands of guests.(see photo)
Imoni (??) is a type of thick potato and meat soup eaten traditionally in the autumn in the Tohoku region of Japan. Yamagata Prefecture in particular is famous for its imoni, but other prefectures in the region also have their own different varieties. Imoni is eaten like any soup, primarily during the late summer and early autumn, but is most famous as an outdoor food. In the autumn, groups of people preparing imoni around a fire near a river is considered a sign of the season.
This year, our elections officer Ian has volunteered to host on Crystal Mountain! This will be a family-friendly event in place of our summer picnic this year, not to mention being very economical! (Note: there will be attendees consuming alcohol, but everyone is encouraged to use discretion.) All you are asked to do is RSVP for cabin space, BYOB and food for breakfast. It will truly be a wonderful event that you won