Why Can't He Find a Decent Pair of Pants?!

~Last weekend, David the Party Animal went to yet another crazy festival in Japan. In this case, it was the annual Niigata Festival in the city of the same name. It had many of the same features as the Nagaoka festival: a portable shrine parade, taiko drums, the whole nine yards. After a half-hour trip by bullet train, I devoted all my energy to enjoying myself, but managed to spare a few seconds to take pictures for you.

^ Leading the parade were some lovely ladies dressed up as 'Fukomachi Geisha' (or something along those lines), as the parade leader informed me. They moved slowly in a zig-zag pattern, repeatedly pounding the butts of their staves against the ground. Here's a video:



^ How photogenic! The staves they're carrying are called khakkhara, which loosely translates to 'Pilgrim's Staff'. They have four loose metal rings at the top that jingle when the staff is pounded. The symbolism here is to warn animals/insects/morons to get out of the way lest they be squashed. Another interpretation is that the sound of the four rings reminds listeners of the "Four Noble Truths" in Buddhist philosophy.


^ There were about a dozen shrines in the Niigata parade. At first, I thought that they were the same shrines that were used in Nagaoka because the designs were so similar. I later discovered that the symbolism of the phoenix (and so forth) is particular to the Niigata region which includes Nagaoka, and the other design elements are similar across Japan.

^ The portable shrines were amazingly-detailed, even more so than the ones in Nagaoka. I like the oni (demon in English, kanji = 鬼 ) image on this shrine, although it kind of freaks me out. On a side note, if you're playing 'tag' in Japan, the person doing the tagging is not referred to as 'it', but is instead the 'oni'. I also find it amusing that the kanji for demon, 鬼, is on the official Joyo kanji list that all the children learn.

^ On the other sides of the shrine were images of ryu (Chinese dragons). I like how one has red eyes and the other has green eyes. Red-eyes seems scared, doesn't he? Perhaps he's afraid of hungry green-eyes.


^ A more colorful shrine, also with a dragon image. On the right, you can also see a samurai face.

^ The most beautiful shrine, in my humble opinion, had woodcut artwork with gold leaf that seemed to glow in the light.

^ This little festival participant seems to be enjoying himself. If you ask me, I think he climbed up there so as to locate his pants, which he seems to have lost. Why can't he just find a decent pair of pants?!

Speaking of pants (that's yet another interesting way to start a conversation), my students have a difficult time understanding that words like 'pants' and 'glasses' are technically plural, even though they are single objects. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that in Japanese, there are no plurals; I'm not quite sure how multiple objects are distinguished from single ones in any given sentence.

^ Like the portable shrine parade in Nagaoka, each shrine-carrying team had a support group with beer and water. Unlike the Nagaoka support groups, the Niigata support wasn't quite as organized or efficient. As long as the beer gets to the right place, I guess it doesn't matter. Also, it looks like the man in the red shirt has also lost his pants. Is there a master-pants-thief running around?

Also unlike the Nagaoka parade (which went in circles around the main street), the Niigata parade had a destination in mind: Hakusan Park, which I visited a few months ago. Once the parade arrived, the real fun began, with music and demonstrations.

^ I didn't get to see this float in action, but it still looks impressive. I want a real car that looks like this. I'd drive down the highway, crushing smaller cars under my keel, and drive into the water where my amphibious vehicle would cruise around.

There were also some impressive taiko drumming troupes, which were accompanied by flutes. Here's a video:



Of course, no expedition in Japan would be complete without...Japanglish! Here's some to get you started, found on a postcard:

^ Text reads (mistakes and all),

Sunny day cutcut cutting grasses.
I'm thinking "Whereis the grasshopper....
A dog, Perkee, is thinking.......
"I'm ok!! becouse i have an umbrella! "

That's it for now. Look for more festivals in the future, or better yet, go attend one yourself. I leave you with these interesting clouds I saw over Niigata just after the parade:

~Oyasumi!

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!

Explosive Extravaganza! Sugoi Nagaoka Hanabi

~You've been waiting for it, and HERE IT IS: a single mega-post containing the best pictures I took of Nagoka's fireworks! The fireworks actually lasted for three nights (one of which was a bonus night to celebrate Nagaoka's 100th anniversary as a city), but I was only able to watch the first two due to my work schedule.

The motto of the annual Nagaoka festival is, "Don't die until you've seen the best fireworks show on Earth!" While at first this may seem to be a grandiose statement, it is, in my admittedly limited experience, completely true! For those of you in the Triangle area, imagine the grand finale of the 4th of July fireworks at Symphony Lake in Cary. Now, imagine that the grand finale repeats every two minutes for two hours. That's the best comparison I can make at this point.

^ This picture is dark and blurry, but I think it accurately conveys the festering mass of human flesh that packed the riverbanks to watch the fireworks. I don't take up much space, but even so I had difficulty finding a spot. It was a good spot, but damnably cramped and uncomfortable for a two-hour event.

Anyway, the fireworks of Nagoaka are famous not only for their bright colors and dazzling effects, but for their sheer SIZE. There things were gigantic! Remember the huge firework displayed at the history museum, the sanjaku-gosun dama? Several of those were detonated over the course of the event.

^ The fireworks began with the "Niagara Falls". This was a series of massive sparklers placed along the entire length of the Chosei Bridge (2,791.34 feet). The sparks rained down to the Shinano river like a glowing waterfall, as a massive sanjaku-gosun dama exploded in the background (probably waking up children in Beijing). Can you see the half-moon on the outskirts of the blast? This is one of my favorite pictures.

Here's a video I made of the Niagara Falls fireworks:




^ The aftermath of a Super Vesuvius Grand Star Mine. The "Vesuvius" class of fireworks all contained a fountain of fiery colored sparks several hundred feet high, with explosions on the top. As you might guess from the name, it looks a lot like an erupting volcano...of the explosive variety. Here's a video:



^ Sure, this looks pretty, but it doesn't convey the immensity of these blasts. To get an idea of the size, the length of the above picture is at least a mile. The larger explosions lit up the sky as bright as day.

^ There were around 45 "sets" of fireworks each night, each set sponsored by a different company that was announced over speakers after the detonations. I'm told that each set costs around $10,000! The only fireworks not sponsored by businesses were those in the grand finale, which were paid for by merchandising and donations.

The above two pictures are of the "Vesuvius Grand Wide Star Mine", one of the most impressive (and most impressively-named) fireworks. Naturally, here's a video:



^ Many of the fireworks created unique patterns and shapes. I'm especially fond of this beauty, which created multiple glowing rings around a central spherical pattern. This firework was part of the "Vesuvius Grand Miracle Star Mine", which you can see in this video:



^ It's Japantastic!

^ Almost all of the fireworks contained more than one color. This one is supposed to look like a flower, and I think the designers did a fantastic job.

^ The Japanese onlookers responded to each progressively-better explosion not with Oohs and Aaahs, but rather with quick exclamations of "Sugoi! Sugoi!", which roughly translates to "Super! Super!".

Here's a video of a "Vesuvius Grand Star Mine". Keep in mind that this was the standard class of firework used for the two-hour event. Over twenty-five of these were blasted off:




^ My very favorite fireworks picture, the result of lucky timing. I managed to catch a fleeting glimpse of this energy-based lifeform, which is born knowing all the secrets of the universe. Unfortunately, its lifespan is only three seconds. Bummer.

Just before the grand finale was a set of "Design Fireworks"; unique creations of dazzling magnificence:



Unfortunately, my memory card ran out of space just before the grand finale...but fear not! My friend Chris was at the event and was able to make this video of the finale:



^ The finale features the 'Phoenix' fireworks, which (as you can see) look like birds when they explode. The phoenix is a mythological avian creature that has flames for wings and dies in a fiery explosion after a millennia of life, only to have a new phoenix be reborn from the ashes. After Nagaoka was destroyed by U.S. bombs in World War II, a new city arose from the ashes; hence the phoenix is the symbol of the city and a reminder that great things can arise even after terrible destruction.

Please let me know if you enjoyed these pictures and videos. For more (and, I must admit, better) pictures, check out Chris' Flickr site (also now on the links at right). And if you're looking for the best fireworks on Earth, look no farther than Nagaoka. It's a real blast!
~Oyasumi.

Black Dragon Serves Swords

~Thanks to the arcane new rules on video verification over at Google Video, the fireworks videos will be delayed for a day or two. Fear not, loyal readers, for I have plenty of backup material. Today, I present a fascinating T'ai Chi demonstration from the festivities a few days ago:

^ I knew two of the people demonstrating T'ai Chi. One was a student of mine, while another was one of my co-workers. As you can see, they're all wearing red shirts and are more-or-less synchronized. After the open-hand movements, it was time for swords!

^ The sword demonstration was amazing. They used Chinese Ch'ing swords, which are used in Kung Fu and T'ai Chi.

^ A box o'swords. They let me hold one of these, and believe me when I tell you that it was no toy. It was also very sharp and could probably cut you in half with a sufficiently powerful swing.

Of course, I made a couple of videos for you to watch:

^ The open-hand performance.



^ If this looks too slow to you, imagine it ten times faster. I like swords.



^More swordy action.

Practicing martial arts is excellent for your health and can help you defend yourself, but there are more intangible benefits than that. I practiced Okinawan Kempo karate and tae kwon do for almost a decade and enjoyed them a lot. Martial arts can improve your balance and help you to focus. Besides, there's no better way to beat stress than by launching an all-out assault on a punching bag.

Here in Japan, martial arts are actually on the decline, but judo, a martial art invented in Japan that emphasizes trips and grabs, is still practiced by millions. Another local combat art is kendo, a sword-based martial art that basically involves hitting your heavily-armored opponent on the head with a wooden sword. Several of my students are in their school kendo clubs.

Yes indeed, there's always something interesting in Japan. Stay tuned for more festival and fireworks pictures and occasionally-sarcastic commentary. ~Oyasumi!