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.

Spheres of Influence

Went to a wedding party last night and I was fascinated by the different circles of friends my friend had made. During the party representatives from each group of friends was asked to give a short speech. It was a very interesting mix of people and I was somewhat surprised at the number of friends that my friend had built around him. Actually I was impressed by how many people this guy really had made a lasting impression on. I was also struck by the diversity of his circles of influence. There were work friends, college friends, manga friends, baseball friends, chorus friends, drinking friends, and us his church friends. Lots of circles, lots of friends, and a network of people rivaling facebook.

Also just a few weeks my good friend Susan left on her final journey. Over and over the thing that was said about her was how many lives she touched. She had an amazing network of friends, from all around the world. From what I hear the funeral was a celebration of over 400 people in attendance, and spoke of the influence that she had on so many people.

So where am I going with this, well it started me thinking, "How big is my circle of friends, and how expansive are my spheres of influence?" Let's see, what is a good measure, my facebook friends perhaps? Well I don't think I have a great number of these, 266, but compared to the average which is 130, maybe I don't fair too bad. If I had a wedding party (this is just imaginary of course) how many people could I get to come. I probably would be pleasantly surprised by the numbers but I think most people would come more out of utter surprise. And what about a funeral, how many people would show up for that? As I get older I find that building friendships and relationships is very different from 30 years ago. But just because it is different from years ago, I still feel that developing friendships and nurturing relationships is one of the most important things I can be doing. As people reflected on my friend Susan's life, the overwhelming response was that she was a friend to almost any and all. She was interested in peoples lives remembered things about people, shared in their interests and was genuine with them.

I do have a good circle of friends but what am I doing to expand that? How many people are going to be influenced by mine? How broad and far reaching are my circles of influence going to be? What should I be doing to make more of a difference, or is what I'm doing enough? I think I have a lot of questions and maybe not a lot of answers, but I hope that I can be a genuine friend to as many people as God puts in my path. When I boil it all down I think that this should probably be one of our main goals. We are called to share God's love, what better way than to be a genuine friend.

iPad, It's Here! Well almost.

Been waiting to see if the rumors would come true and it was verified last night when I got to e-mails from Apple verifying the release of the iPad. An old from college Nick Gerlich had this to say about it on his blog.

The iPad is basically an iPhone on steroids. It is combination e-reader, netbook and iPod, all with the touchscreen usability we have all come to love (or loathe) as iPhone users. It will be available in 3 storage configurations, as well as with or without AT&T 3G wireless connectivity. With an entry level price of $499, it is decidedly a lot pricier than simple netbooks on the PC platform (starting at $300), but its coolness quotient is up in the stars.

Go ahead and read the rest of what he says at GNU/Medialab. He has a better way of putting it down in words than me.

Tai Yaki

On the way home from church today I made a stop in Shibuya. On the way back to the station I saw this interesting store selling taiyaki, which is a traditional Japanese bean paste filled pastry. Well this store has gone "international" you might say. Instead of the traditional bean paste they have substituted:

• Cheese Curry dog (India)
• German Potato
• Italian (have no idea of the contents but it looked pretty good)
• Sweet Potato (America not sure what the connection is)
• Caramel & Almond (France)
• Chocolate & Custard (Belgium)

Had I not just eaten and there hadn't been a huge line I would have loved to try one of them.

If your interested check out their web site, Tai Yaki.

Pant's on the Ground ballad

Like Simon said I think someone is going to make a hit out of this song. I don't think this is it but it is pretty funny. Love the ending.


And now I see that "'Pants on the Ground' Singer Larry Platt Offered Record Deal"

And if your looking for a t-shirt, try this on for size.

Pant's on the Ground

I hope someone makes this song into a hit.

12 things that became obsolete this decade.

Oh how things have changed.
Look to see all the things that we don't need anymore.

Calling
Landlines
Wires
Classified adds
Dial up internet
Encylopedias
CD music
Film
Film camers
Hand written letters
Catalogs
Fax

NYT: Decade End Chart

Not sure if I understand what all of these are about but interesting. It also shows how behind the times I am on some things.

Off with the pants!

For those following on FB  I mentioned that flying the day after the attempted attack I did get frisked at the airport, and camera crews were there filming it.  The funny thing was that I don't think the people that were doing the security checks actually knew what they were doing.  Since I have been back it is all over the news about new measures on flights, but it all seems to be rather reactionary.  No getting up during the last hour on flights coming into the states and no blankets, pillows or coats on you laps at that time.  The reason for this is that was the time frame that this guy used, and the explosives were sewn into his underwear.

Here is what Obama has to say on the subject.

Now since the last foiled attempt with the shoes, taking shoes off at the check points has been standard procedure. Now with the underwear mishap, are we going to have to take off our pants.

Susan

Eunice, Judith and Britta, all encouraged me to make the trip to see Susan and I am so glad that did.  She is in a lot of pain, and is dizzy and nauseous.  This has been a long hard journey for her and she is ready to be done with it.  Please keep her in your prayers.