| Tuesday, February 20, 2007 |
| N-A, K-E-D, Nakedmanfestival is the way to be! |
 Hadaka Matsuri in a sentence: 10,000 men put on fundoshi (sumo thong) and tabi (ninja-turtle shoes), run around yelling "Wasshoi," drink sake, cleanse themselves by hopping into cold cold cold water, crowd into a temple, sway back and forth like boy-seaweed in a current, and then beat each other up to catch a lucky stick at midnight. In a second sentence: The rest of us perverts ("cultural observers") drink and watch.
A few of my lovelies: A-belle, Marie and Gary (of Baan Unrak fame) came from afar, to drink amazaki... and display pregnancies. I have a bizarre picture of Gary from Christmas that would have been great, if not for a completely ghetto Santa stomach-- I think it was just a balloon held in the waist of Gary's Santa trousers. I looked at the picture and thought: "Cute house mother! Gary Claus! Gary's gigantic abdominal tumour!" Ho ho ho, Santa's Little In-Need-of-Surgery Patient is back, and he's wearing a raincoat!
 The man behind the email curtain: Lackey, with both ears intact for the occasion. Birdie Glass worked her magic and got an *unexplained* discount on deluxe buses. Nicole was the Money Wench. Bob was, as always, the Glue, because nothing can fall apart when he is around.
 Hey, who brought Bird Flu all the way to the Saidaiji? Wasn't me, wasn't Sharky, was it that devilish Dimple? Muah ha, everyone knows that wet, naked people are more susceptible to sickness. Cluck cluck, who's got a fever?
 Jarek and I headed back to the buses, and while I was outside directing lost/late people, the buses took off without me. This led to a panicked call, some yelling by Birdie and Eric to get the driver to stop, and a long sprint through the rain. I hopped on, and we got glares from the driver for the ride back. Sweet. But, really, nothing went awry, there was a TV camera crew on the boys' bus, (and a TVman that kept declaring himself as Vasco's New Best Friend), we raised money for the shelter, I pulled my first all-nighter in ages, and... yeah, did I mention the 10,000 men part? Kid in a candy store, yo, minus all the creepiness that image might evoke. Oh, and most of the "candies" were 40 year-old J-men. (Who wants old manju?) We had to head to Aussie Bar to get the selection of imported sweets. And, yes, as usual, I could have chosen a better analogy.
 As fun as it was, my first impulse is to say that helping organize the event was a pain in the ass. But, since I didn't have to run around all night tightly wrapped into a fundoshi, I really have NO idea what that means. Probably all you runners do... |
posted by Raychaa @ 6:08 PM  |
|
| 1 comments: |
-
I miss you too!! When will you be returning stateside?
|
| |
| << Home |
| |
|
|
|
| So wrong it's right. And then wrong. And then wrong again... welcome to the inaka. |
| About Me |
|
Name: Raychaa
Home:
About Me: “No man, not even a doctor, ever gives any other definition of what a nurse should be than this - 'devoted and obedient'. This definition would do just as well for a porter. It might even do for a horse. It would not do for a policeman.” (Florence Nightingale)
Profile
|
| Previous Post |
|
| Archives |
|
| Shoutbox |
For travel-volunteer junkies Responsible Nomad My favorite place, favorite kids
PEPY Ride: Cambodia
|
| Pretty People |
|
| Powered by |
 |
|
I miss you too!! When will you be returning stateside?