Ice is Nice

~I've somehow survived to Obon, the second of my week-long vacations (the first being Golden Week). I really like getting a vacation during the hottest and most humid time of the year; now I'll actually have time to go swimming and travel a bit. For now, I'll share the remaining festival photos.

After the first day of fireworks, the festivities continued in another all-day festival. I had to work during the celebration, but do you think I let that stop me?

^ The most obvious evidence of the festival was this gigantic taiko drum set up on the main street of Nagaoka (which had been closed to traffic). I never actually saw anyone playing this drum. Perhaps it was just a prop to attract attention?

^ There were actual drummers, though. This red-shirted group was fantastic, and all day my skeleton was rattling to the pounding of their taiko drums.

^ The first time I looked at this air-trampoline, I though the letters on the front read 'Iraq' and did a double-take. In this picture, it looks like the giant gorilla (?) is wistfully looking at the metal bar that he's seemingly about to smack his head into.

^ These young citizens were test-riding a double-bike of some kind. I tell you, those Japanese and their crazy contraptions! At any rate, they seem to be having fun, and like most Japanese, they loved having their picture taken. Which reminds me...

^ "Dressing your best" is very different in Japan. Most of the girls wore beautifully-colored kimono (yes, that's the plural form of the word) and wooden shoes. I know from experience that it's hard to move in these things, so everything slows down a bit when you're in one. A kimono is difficult to don (almost impossible without assistance), but quite comfortable once it's on.

^ There were all sorts of fun activities for kids. Who could resist sitting in the driver's seat of a real fire truck?

^ There was also a heavy-duty snow-moving machine, a necessity during the winter months. Here's a closeup of the sign in the lower-left:

^ It's your friendly neighborhood anthropomorphic snowblower, now with muscle-arm action! I can't read the kanji, so I can only speculate on what the snowblower is saying. Maybe, "Remember, kids, don't eat yellow snow!".

^ There was a miniature railroad for kids to ride around on, but it seems to have broken down. The mechanics were befuddled and messed with the engine for over half an hour, but didn't manage to fix it. I guess that "derailed" the fun.

^ The man in the white hat set up a telescope with special filters for solar viewing. When I looked through, I saw the sun as a fiery crimson orb (which, incidentally, would be a good name for a rock band).

There was also a part of the festival devoted to ice sculpture:

^ This chip of the old block has seen his assets frozen, and is now hoping his sculpture with be the icing on the cake.

^ One of the finished products, complete with cute presenters. Here's another one:

^ Apparently the 100th anniversary sculpture. Are those supposed to be sharks?

^ Near the ice sculptures, hollow blocks of ice were set up on ropes along with balloons. Pedestrians could blast the balloons and ice with water guns. It looked like a great stress reliever and I wanted to try it, but I didn't want to accidentally soak my suit before I had to go back to work. Although in retrospect, it was so hot I would have dried off in about five minutes.

^ I don't know whether to classify this uniquely-Japanese tradition as a brilliant achievement for civilization or a defilement of the lowest order. Under the tent at right, men were cooking long noodles and dumping them into the wooden half-pipe, which had a stream of water running through it. Children with chopsticks (at center) were grabbing the noodles from the running water and eating them. The unlucky noodles that were not eaten were instead caught by the basket at the other end of the tube. An amazing pasta machine or a desecration of the sacred noodle? You decide.

I did manage to locate a hilarious bit of Japanglish, spotted on the side of a bag:

^ Text reads (complete with misspellings):

Cool people with
The sence of
Mismatch who can
Enjoy mixed taste
And stylish joke
We wish those people
To select our
SWORDFISH

Hopefully, my vacation plans will pan out and I'll have some interesting things to report on in the near future. Until then, beat the summer heat by taking up a "cool" hobby, such as ice-sculpting or cold-noodle-dropping-in-water-and-eating. Actually, what's the name for that, anyway? ~Oyasumi!