Fertility festival. They were marching the penises down from the vagina shrine to the penis shrine. No joke.

For those who don't want to click to page 3:

Just got back from vacation. Here is day 1 of our trip:









We took video of the festival too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0zyzItdJkk

[Edited on March 22, 2007 at 1:08 AM. Reason : ,]

3/22/2007 1:07:48 AM

hahahaahhhahahahhahhaha

3/22/2007 1:43:39 AM

Bwahaha! Given their nation's declining birthrate, they apparently need to run this festival more often.

3/22/2007 3:47:57 AM

overall, these pics were amazing!

3/22/2007 3:49:05 AM

Day 2:

It was raining in Okinawa so we went to the aqaurium.

3/22/2007 8:04:44 AM

Haha, the penis festival is classic.

3/22/2007 8:10:00 AM

^ Apparently there's another one in Japan closer to Tokyo next month as well. I always thought there was just the one.

3/22/2007 8:23:22 AM

More info on that festival if anyone wants to read lots of words:

http://www.yamasa.org/japan/english/destinations/aichi/tagata_jinja.html

3/22/2007 9:29:03 AM

Man, this just makes me want to do a study abroad! I'd probably have to learn Japanese or some other funny language for the cool countries though (yes I know they have english programs but then what do you do outside of school).

3/22/2007 10:22:54 AM

Interesting.

I had a hard enough time explaining Setsubun-no-hi to my girlfriend. (Feb. 3rd when you throw beans around your home to ward off evil and misfortune). So she just calls it my bean holiday. I don't think I will try and explain this festival to her.

3/22/2007 10:28:20 AM

^^ I'm pretty sure they make you take a beginner's course in Japanese if you study abroad there.

^ I kind of explain it to people as it's kind of what Halloween used to be in the States, a way to scare off bad spirits.

3/22/2007 6:17:59 PM

That works.

3/22/2007 6:28:09 PM

HockeyRoman

shut the fuck up about japan already

thanks

3/22/2007 6:29:59 PM

jtreehorn

stop hyjacking other people's threads with your idiocy that could be settled over PMs

thanks

3/22/2007 6:35:41 PM

Day 3/4 of the trip:



Okinawan liquor with poisonous snake in it.

3/22/2007 6:36:14 PM

Oh yeah, and this was the "traditional Okinawan" drink we had while there:

3/25/2007 8:17:18 AM

First opened in 1963, A&W drive-in restaurants were the first fast-food franchise to appear in Japan. Currently, they are found only in Okinawa, the southernmost prefecture of Japan, where it remains very popular. It has become something of a regional favorite among Japanese tourists who visit Okinawa.

3/25/2007 8:18:16 AM

I wish they would bring it to the main island. Their burgers are a shitload better than McDonald's

It still cracks me up when coworkers try to tell me root beer started in Okinawa. Uh no, read the glass or can next time.

[Edited on March 25, 2007 at 8:22 AM. Reason : kjko]

3/25/2007 8:21:34 AM

It's finally feeling like spring.

3/28/2007 5:11:51 AM

those frogs are cool

but whale shark & manta ray ftw

3/28/2007 5:25:47 AM

post some pictures of pachinko please

3/28/2007 8:26:50 AM

Cherry Blossom near my work.

3/29/2007 4:21:20 AM

Those pictures are absolutely beautiful. The cherry blossoms remind me of my hometown. (DC... aah the nostalgia) I know the trees in DC were originally donated by Japan.

3/29/2007 4:28:38 AM

This is the story.
http://www2.osk.3web.ne.jp/%7Earanishi/sakura_e.htm

The pics were taken by my cell phone camera. The cherry blossoms would look better by a digital camera though.

3/29/2007 4:35:29 AM

The cherry trees look like they'll be starting up any day now. A coworker was telling me today that there are 100 cherry trees on campus. Should be quite a show

3/29/2007 4:43:48 AM

I can't wait. They should be all in bloom before April 12/14th. (if they're on the same schedule as the DC ones)

3/29/2007 4:47:43 AM

Japan Meterological Agency is saying probably next weekend will be the start with them peaking around the 6th for this area.

3/29/2007 4:51:48 AM

pfffffffffffft wtf do THEY know?

3/29/2007 4:52:16 AM

touche. The head guy had to get on TV a few weeks ago and bow/apologize profusely for a computer glitch that threw off the cherry blossom prediction by 2 days. DAYS.

Cherry blossoms are serious business.

3/29/2007 4:53:33 AM

GD

I'd hate to see what our sorry ass weatherpeople would have to do when they screwed up the snow predictions a few years ago.

3/29/2007 4:55:30 AM

a few years ago... I think every single year. I wish I could be a weather person and get paid for guessing. They're like well paid, respectable, fortune tellers.

3/29/2007 4:58:05 AM

yeah

but they use actual fake data

not fake real tarot cards

3/29/2007 4:59:03 AM

^^

I meant when they called for like 2 inches and we ended up getting 20+


It was funny watching them throughout the day.

Early morning: "We expect a few flurries today"

Mid morning: "Looks like we might get an inch or 2 today"

Early Afternoon: "Looks like we might get 6-8 inches today:

Later afternoon: "ok, we have NO idea how much snow we're going to get"

[Edited on March 29, 2007 at 5:00 AM. Reason : ^]

3/29/2007 5:00:29 AM

^ yeah that's a pretty big fuckup faux pais.
^^ fake real tarot cards, LOL!

3/29/2007 5:12:45 AM

Quote :

"I don't know what vision you have in your head, but people don't carry around samurai swords and are not interested in making real whatever you saw in anime/movies/tv shows."

Bu...but...but how are we suppose to fight future wars without giant mechas with super-kame-hame-ha lasers?

Tell me they're at least working on katana-wielding sexy magic school-girl fighters.

3/29/2007 5:32:52 AM

Apparently they're too busy carrying around giant penises.

3/29/2007 7:37:06 AM

^^^^ hahaha I remember that. And then there was no school for over a week. Classic pwnage.

3/29/2007 7:06:45 PM

Quote :

"I wish I could be a weather person and get paid for guessing."

Or an oil speculator forecasting gloom and doom so the price of oil jumps $10 a barrel over night for an event that may not come to pass. Or how about those who's job it is to predict sales analysis. Maybe you should equally bitch about them losing their job when their crystal ball fails them. Sorry to derail this but it pisses me off to no end when people are dumb enough to boil down all weather jobs as forecasting and then claiming that it is all guessing.

3/30/2007 3:04:24 AM

We're having to deal with sandstorms right now. It sucks

4/2/2007 6:22:52 AM

sand storms? blowing in from the mainland?

4/2/2007 8:55:02 AM

Blowing in from China.

4/2/2007 8:55:25 AM

4/3/2007 4:36:26 AM

Cherry Blossoms near my place









Hehe I had to put my dog's pics, too..

4/3/2007 5:50:41 AM

Cute dog .

Seriously though, this needs to get to page 5 so I don't risk my boss coming in and seeing a penis festival on my screen.

4/3/2007 7:09:30 AM

I wish I could have a pet but my place doesn't really allow them

4/3/2007 12:16:21 PM

How kareoke is done here in Japan. WITH TEH PASSION!

4/4/2007 12:58:14 PM

^ haha. one of my friends always sing and dance in front of the audience (us).
Karaoke in Japan > Karaoke in the States

4/4/2007 9:21:14 PM

do you have any pictures of where you live? if it's too personal i understand, but i'd be very curious how it compares to dwellings over here in the west. if it's exactly the same, just call me an idiot, i can take it.

4/4/2007 9:34:16 PM

God my place is so small. Here are some photos from when I first moved in:



Bathtub



Rest of bathroom



Kitchen/Dining room



Toilet room



Living room/bedroom. Yes, that is pretty much the entire room. It is 6 tatami big. I think a tatami is something like 7 square meters.

4/4/2007 9:51:59 PM

^ is that how you always eat?

4/4/2007 10:26:25 PM