Tripping Far Side

I went to the festival again on Sunday with the Miki Crew. Almost all of the foreign English teachers were there, so while we were walking around, we could say hi to almost every student, both junior and senior high schools.

We also went with some really nice Japanese families: the Ogawa's and the Subutani's. They let us sit in the front of their expensive reserved seats, at the top of the shrine, which has a fantastic view of the festivities away from the crowd. They are such wonderful people! They even let us wear their "happi" coats that proudly represents their local neighborhood. You can also easily distinguish them by the different colored headbands.

I missed out on some of the action apparently though. Some of the other JETs were telling me how drunk some of the 13 and 14 year old kids were at the festival. And apparently, in front of a group of cops too! One JET even took beer away from her student and explained the situation to the police, but they didn't do anything. Also, I guess fights were breaking out often too. Haha, no wonder teachers don't want to be here.

The heaviest portable shrine got dropped a bunch of times though. Twice on the way up the stairs, and then around their neighborhood as well. One time, it came dangerously close to falling on top of the crowd. But they said, don't worry though, the kids are strapped in.

I can't believe they carry these things ALL DAY, on both Saturday and Sunday from morning until late night. You can even see the lump on their shoulders!