Festival Entrance.

Saidaiji Hadaka Matsuri climax

I got better video that I did pictures, hopefully you can see how wild this whole event is.

Saidaiji Hadaka Matsuri

On the spur of the moment I decided to go to the Saidaiji Naked Festival on Saturday. This year marked the 500th anniversary of this event. I arrived at 8:00 in the evening and I thought that would be plenty of time, but I wish I would have gone a little earlier. People were up on the platform of the shrine and just as I got into the grounds they announced that they were clearing the area except for the participants. Shortly after I arrived they started slowly heading to the platform waiting for the drop of the sacred sticks, "shingi".

It wasn't too long before the stage was full.

And they still kept coming!

And coming!

Just a bit crowded and pretty dangerous.

As you can see from the picture there were people on the outside and I think their main job was to do their best to make sure everyone stayed on the stage. There are very step steps all around the stage that are put up for just this event. As the crowd got larger there were numerous times when you would hear a rumble from the crowd and the stage and a group of the men would fall like a giant wave of bodies down the steps. I have some great video where you should be able to see it and I hope to get it up shortly.

If you are interested in the festival here is a little blurb that I found.

One of the three most eccentric festivals of Japan. Nine thousand men wearing only loincloths struggle fiercely with one another over a pair of lucky sacred sticks measuring 4 cm in diameter and 20 cm in length, thrown into the crowd by the priest from a window 4 m up. Anyone who luckily gets hold of the shingi and thrusts them upright in a wooden measuring box known as a masu which is heaped with rice is called the lucky man, and is blessed with a year of happiness. The other lucky items are bundles of willow strips, and although 100 of these are thrown into the crowd, it is not an easy task to catch them.

Read the rest of the story here.

Hadaka Maturi

With lack of anything better to do I decided to jump on a train and head to Okayama to see check out the Hadaka Matsuri. At least this year they have moved up the time when they drop the lucky charm (for lack of better words).

Olympic Fashion Faux Pax

Not surprised at all that something like this happened. Now I don't think this guy looks too bad, but his, not wearing his suit correctly, got him banned from attending the opening ceremony. Now given all the dress code rules that we have at school I understand this but at the same time wonder if it really matters. Well it must to some, it seems the actions were taken after people complained to the Japan Olympic Committee.

Shoichi Yamashita / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

VANCOUVER--Japanese Olympic snowboarder Kazuhiro Kokubo was barred from attending the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics by the head of Japan's Olympic delegation after he flouted the dress code by wearing the Japanese Olympic uniform in a manner deemed inappropriate.

Kokubo, 21, who will compete in the halfpipe event, departed for Vancouver on Tuesday from Narita Airport with the Japanese delegation, but had his official team trousers hitched below his waist, shirt untucked and tie loosened.

Due to numerous complaints to the Japanese Olympic Committee and other entities, Kokubo voluntary refrained from attending Wednesday's ceremony for athletes entering the Olympic Village. At a press conference shortly after the ceremony, Kokubo said he was very sorry for his attire, but prolonged his syllables in a manner that was perceived to be flippant, which fueled even more protests.

I think this sort of reinforces the idea that I have always had about Tamasei and their rules. It seems that they have all these rules, but there really is no penalty for breaking them. I have always thought that the school has always been too soft on the kids. I say this in knowing that sometimes the consequences in doing something as small as not wearing you uniform right, can be rather stiff in Japanese society.

Jeanne Moos talks about "Pant's on the Ground"

Chocolate Soda

Just about when you thought you have seen it all you get another surprise. Stopped at the convenience store on the way home thinking I might pick up something to drink and this drink jumped out at me. What will they think of next? Well I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, I mean it was just a couple of weeks ago I saw that there was chocolate beer in the stores so why not. When I looked it up I saw someone had actually blogged about it and said that it tasted like a cross between cream soda and a totsie roll. Well I wasn't up for it today but maybe I will try one before Valentines day.

New York Burger

So McDonalds is running a promotional hamburger series. It started off with Texas and is moving its way through the 4 burgers pictured above. Yesterday New York debuted so I decided to go out and try it today for lunch. Here it is pictured below.

I have made it a point to not eat these creative products but I thought hey I should at least try, I mean they look good. Texas, too much bread, bbq sauce that tasted more like teriyaki sauce. A disappointment. The New York; bacon, lettuce, tomato, and cheese. No it wouldn't have been bad if it wasn't for the horseradish mustard that was slathered on the bottom. Another disappointment. If it had been juicy it may have worked; add mayo, relish, ketchup, and mustard, and I would be back for more.

Funky Phone

So on the way home from the immigration office I changed trains at Oimachi and I realized there was a new electronics store where Marui used to be. I wanted to look for a digital picture frame and ran across this. Seeing as I also need to replace my phone I'm thinking this may just be the thing I need. Check it out at Sharp.

Train Mail

On my way to the immigration office yesterday I ran across this very unusual mail box inside of Shinagawa station.

Actually over the years Shinagawa station has been transformed into a really nice area. In the station building there is a nice Starbucks shere you can sit on a terrace overlooking the justle and bustle of the station and also enjoy free wifi.

iPad parody

This is too funny! And to think that it was done 5 years ago.