Kokubunji Festival

Today was just a stunningly warm autumn day, so myself and Jana jumped on our bikes and went to the nearby Kokubunji Park for the 23rd Annual Kokubunji Festival.

Like most festivals in Japan, the event consisted of traditional costumes...

dancing...

the carrying of floats from the local shrines...

masks...

drums...

and more man-ass than anyone in their right mind cares to see!

In fact, man-ass is a normal sight at these festivals. The thong is part of a man's traditional costume, which consists of a sort of belt thing that is also looped around your bum. So loads of men are walking around ALL over the place with their rears hanging out of a tiny piece of cloth. Similiar to the style of a sumo wrestler. Yet nobody seems to bat an eyelid... except for me, who took pictures!

Jana is happy from seeing so much man-ass! Ha!

Below is a close-up of some old school slippers made of straw. Did you know that thong slippers originated in Asia? In fact, they make socks that separate your big toe from the rest of your toes so you can wear socks with flip flops. Take a close look at all of the pictures above -- almost every person is wearing the thong socks.

We saw many strange things today. These children appeared to be playing some sort of game where they catch fish with their bare hands and then put them back into the pool. But after being caught over and over, and being taken out of water again and again, the fish of course were going half dead and were not very difficult to catch. But the kids were simply fascinated!

Also, dogs are certainly man's best friend in Japan (few people have cats), and it is quite normal to see dogs in sweaters, t-shirts, or even kimonos. But I think this man was taking it too far, carrying his large dog around in his arms like a small child. Jana and I dubbed him 'the dog lover'. The dog seemed quite content, actually.

After many hours of walking around the stalls, poking about at the things being eaten and drank, and getting lots of freebies from various people who were eager to practice their English, we took a seat by the pond and treated ourselves to some sake and beer.