The Naked Man Festival

Monday afternoon I finally saw one of the most bizarre festivals in the world. The infamous Naked Man Festival in Inazawa City.


Hadaka Matsuri (Naked Man Festival)

I've been trying to see it for years, but for one reason or another I've always missed it. Last year I even tried to participate, but that's a different story for a different time.



I wish I fully understood the historical significance behind the festival, so I could explain why grown men get extremely drunk & naked to go parading down the street in the dead of winter during sub zero temps, but the whole thing makes very little sense to me.



I know it has something to do with 43 year old men and the belief that it's a bad luck year. Supposedly, if a 43 year old man join this festival, it will help bring good luck to him and his family, but judging by some of the characters involved, the whole thing just seems like a great excuse for anybody to get belligerently drunk in public.



My friend Jason and I showed up to the festival a little late after eating lunch in a local resident's house. Soon after walking out to the street I was offered to guzzle sake straight out of the carton by a one eyed, elder Japanese man. When I humbly declined the offer, he vehemently insisted.


Entering the Temple

All the madness in the streets eventually finds it's way to a temple in the middle of the city.

From what I hear, one poor guy is selected beforehand by a lottery to bear the burden of everyone's bad luck. He is completely striped, shaved, and painted white. Then, at an unsuspecting moment, he appears outside the temple with the task of trying to get inside. It's everyone else's task to touch this unlucky bastard to bring themselves good luck and prevent him from making it to his goal.


Buckets

These guys with buckets have the important job of clearing the way and washing away all the bad spirits. They do so by spreading ice cold water all over the already freezing naked guys and anyone in the crowd that might be standing nearby.


Idiot w/ squid

Jason and I were eventually distracted by this guy waving some squid around. He gave intoxicated a whole new meaning when he started trying to speak English and sing "London Bridge is Falling Down" complete with some weird robot dance.


I love how this photo makes him look like he's got a pencil thin mustache

This guy was just too much and he scared off the locals we were with, so Jason and I decided to split too.

Maybe someday, I'll think of a better way to describe this debauchery, but for the time being, I'm still just scratching my head.

Writer Hunter S. Thompson Kills Himself

News From The Associated Press



ASPEN, Colo. (AP) -- Hunter S. Thompson, the hard-living writer who inserted himself into his accounts of America's underbelly and popularized a first-person form of journalism in books such as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," has committed suicide.

Kyoto Protocol comes into force

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Kyoto Protocol comes into force

The Kyoto accord, which aims to curb the air pollution blamed for global warming, has come into force seven years after it was agreed.

The accord requires countries to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Some 141 countries, accounting for 55% of greenhouse gas emissions, have ratified the treaty, which pledges to cut these emissions by 5.2% by 2012.

But the world's top polluter - the US - has not signed up to the treaty.

The US says the changes would be too costly to introduce and that the agreement is flawed.

Large developing countries including India, China and Brazil are not required to meet specific targets for now.

The Age of Glorious Optimism

This past week I made a sudden trip back to the USA to attend a family funeral for my Uncle Ned.

He fought a seven month battle against a malicious brain tumor, and tried his best to be the Lance Armstrong of my hometown, but some things aren't meant to be.

This is a very sensitive subject for me to write about, so I'm gonna skip most of the details. To be perfectly honest, it's the first time death has ever entered my direct family, and I'm still struggling with how to cope with it.

I will say this though. The bond that was formed by my family members and the outpouring of compassion by members of the Gainesville, GA community made me very proud of who I am and where I'm from.

This past weekend my two cousins, Harris & Stuart, who have been under incredible stress over the past seven months, along with my brother Darrell and another close friend named Rob, decided to decompress by taking a trip into the mountains of Asheville, NC and stay in a converted 116 year old mansion called the Richmond Hill Inn.


Richmond Hill Inn

I was fortunate enough to join them for one night.

By the time I got there Sunday around 5pm, they were all outside playing croquet in the drizzling rain. As I stood by and watched the malevolent game, they told me stories of the previous night and morning.


Shoes off for better knocking


Brotherly love

There was something about my brother walking up and down the old rickety halls wearing a bathrobe and a black equestrian riding helmet to serve coffee to my cousins. I can only imagine the sideways glances of other guests and staff.


Ignatius J. Reilly ain't got nuthin' on DWG

That night we broke the bank and got suited up in coats and ties to have dinner in the five star dinning room called Gabrielle's located on the first floor of the mansion. We were seated underneath a large chandelier and in front the fire place.


Chandelier

The meal lasted almost four hours and included a bottle of champagne, a pallet pleaser of salmon, an appetizer of scallops, two bottles of bordeaux, seared steak, two plates of cheeses, a glass of port for myself, and a chocolate torte to top it off.


High-brow Mongoloids

Afterwards, we went back to our rooms in silence and decided the meal was fantastic, but the cheeses were a bit too much.


The Age of Indulgence

I have the greatest family in the world, and it hurts that it took losing a main member to help me realize it.

Back to the Blog

After a month long hiatus, it's been difficult to get back into this blog, but I'm trying. I haven't had much free time to spend with it because I've been focusing my energies on other projects, but now it's time to continue my documentation.

This past weekend I was invited to join five coworkers for a company paid trip to the snowy Japanese Alps. There was Christian, a space invader from Planet Macheesemo, Bradley, a good ole Aussie lad, Crazy Will, a noisy hole, Luke, a bald Canadian Aikido master, and Dan, a chachi trying to mooch a free ride. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience that had it's ups and downs, but overall it was a great time.

We met around 4am at Christian's house and piled into his big Bongo Friendee van for the four hour drive into Nagano Prefecture. Most people slept (and farted) for a majority of the drive except for the the last leg when we woke up and started pumping music out of an iPod to get fired up as we pulled into the snow covered parking lot at Hakuba 47 ski resort.


Three amigos

While listening to AOA and getting dressed, we met up with three JET teachers (Tyler, Noah, and Nicole) that drove in from Aichi Prefecture as well. Before long, Christian, Bradley, and I were all bombing down the slopes and zipping between trees in knee deep powder. Sheer bliss.

Throughout the day we would bump into other people from our group, like Crazy Will who was trying to learn to snowboard. He took a few bad stacks and hurt his knee, but he kept getting up to try again and again.


Bradley chillin'

By about three thirty, my body started getting really tired; I have to get back into shape after gaining about ten pounds while vacationing in the U.S.A. I met up with Will and we decided to call it a day and have a beer at the bottom of the mountain.

That night we stayed in a backpackers lodge called Snow Beds that's located close to the Olympic ski jump used during the Nagano Olympics back in '98. For dinner we went to a cozy log cabin restaurant called Gravity Works that served tasty pizza & pasta and showed videos. We all sat around with our feet up drinking beer and watched the remake of the Italian Job.

After eating, a debate started between Christian and the other members of our group about how to spend the companies money. The debate stopped just shy of a shouting match because everyone was too confused about what the other was arguing. In the end I can't remember what got settled because I quit listening and started watching Charlize Theron in the Italian Job.

Back at the lodge, I went to bed early with my headphones on while Will, Bradley, and Luke stayed up farting and singing bad 80's pop songs from Sheena E and Ray Parker Jr. It was like some kind of bizarre slumber party for the middle aged.

The following day we went Tsugaike ski resort just down the road, but I felt like the wind had left my sails. I was just too tired from the day before and felt real heavy from all the pizza I ate at Gravity Works.

Christian, Bradley, and I still managed to put a few good runs in through a treed section off the top lift, but we all called it a day early and piled back into the van for the drive home.

The drive was uneventful except for the fact that we had three iPods and an iTrip in the back seats, so we took over Christians radio until he turned the volume down on us. Then we busted out our headphones and two splitters and continued to rock out in our own minds.

Good times.

Global poll slams Bush leadership

BBC NEWS | Americas | Global poll slams Bush leadership



More than half of people surveyed in a BBC World Service poll say the re-election of US President George W Bush has made the world more dangerous.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4185205.stm

Holidays at Home

I spent December 16th until January 10th back home in America with my family.

It was a bitter sweet homecoming and deeply personal to me, so instead of recounting my whole experience on this blog, I'm just gonna post some of my favorite pictures taken while I was home.

Enjoy.




Our crew in Aspen



Our chalet in Aspen



Hawkins, Harris, Uncle Ned, & Stuart



Hawkins, Harris, & Uncle Ned



Uncle Ned & Stuart



Uncle Ned in the gondala



Darrell nursing Ned



Skiing on Aspen Mountain



My brother Darrell



Christmas tree at home



Stockings



Todd explaining how he broke his brother's fist with his face



Leanne & Drew

Holiday Hiatus

This blog has gone on holiday and will resume the first week of January.

Christmas Season

My holiday season started last week in Japan and will carry me through the next few weeks of my upcoming trip to America.

Last Thursday I kicked things off with a small party with my Hosono Class. I’ve been teaching these students every Thursday for just over two years, so I’ve gotten to know them very well, and they’re capacity to learn and retain English amazes me. Not to mention they’re all really, really sweet kids.


Hosono Class


The original plan was to teach English for an hour and then have a dinner party with games afterwards, but the kids were so excited it was impossible to have a normal class. We ended up just wrestling for about an hour before they wore me out and we all took a rest to eat.

Unfortunately, the youngest student of the group, a cute little girl named Reika, did not feel well and could not join the wrestling match, but she did try to make an appearance when the food was brought out. She ate a little bit, and then started crying and threw up. Not very pleasant.

Friday, my kiddy Christmas parties continued when I agreed to help my good friend Toshiko, a private English teacher in the neighboring town of Tsushima, with her students’ party.

I showed up a few minuets late, played a couple games with her students, taught them how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which all the students thought was a weird combo, and then split for my very own Christmas party at my house.

While I was away, my buddy Will was helping get things started at my house. We had a little scare when he plugged in his fan heater and blew the fuses to half my house and couldn’t find the fuse box to turn things back on.

My landlady was nice enough to call an electrician, who lived close by, and he remedied the black out problem by spying a small fuse box hidden in the rafters near the entrance of my house.

From there on, the party turned out to be a success. It was a potluck style party, which is uncommon in Japan, but the turn out of people and food was great.

The most memorable of all had to be when Yuki, a young girl that works the front desk at my sports club, came by with her best friend, whose name I’ve forgotten but remember her well because she was really cute and tried to speak to me in Italian.


Yuki & her friend


Both girls were dressed as Santa’s Little Helpers and started rolling sushi and making tako-yaki (small battered pieces of octopus topped with mayonnaise and sweet brown sauce). It was a huge hit!


Santa's Little Sushi Helpers


Saturday I went to see the Acid Mothers Temple play they’re annual boninkai (end of the year party) in a bar called Tokuzo.

AMT is a psychedelic rock group from Nagoya, but they spend a majority of the year touring Europe. They’re only consistent Japanese tour date is this Tokuzo show.

No words can describe this show, so I’m not even gonna try. All I will say is that it was loud. It was awesome. Not to mention two punk rock chicks from Osaka called あふりらんぽ　(Afurirampo) joined them onstage. Both girls were topless and painted bright red like some kind of super hero in a body suite.

The show ended when Kawabata-san hung his guitar from the rafters, or possibly the lighting rack, in a fit of distortion. Then they came back out for a raucous encore of Na, Na, Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Hey, Good-bye!

Monday, in stark contrast, I continued my kiddy Christmas parties with my Shimomura Class. I started teaching these kids last September, and I’m just now starting to see them make some significant progress.


Shimomura Class


For this party, all I did was eat a nice meal prepared by the students mothers, and then go outside for a game of freeze tag. It was not your typical Christmas party, but it was good fun.

Hopefully I can keep this holiday spirit up over the next few days when I travel to Aspen, CO to meet my cousins and my ailing uncle for a week in the snow before traveling back to Gainesville, GA to see the rest of my family.

U.S.A here I come.

Let's Bring Em Home!

Let's Bring Em Home!

I just made a donation to help a soldier in Iraq buy a plane ticket home for Christmas.

If this is something that interests you, please donate here:

http://www.lbeh.org/


Happy Holidays!

Big Frog Over the Rainbow

This past weekend I traveled to Osaka to see Big Frog play in a small venue called Club Vijon. It was an absolutely incredible experience and one of my most memorable Big Frog experiences yet. They have major momentum right now and are getting better exponentially with each performance.

Thursday night (12/2) they played in Yokohama, just west of Tokyo, and drove through the night to my house in Heiwa-cho for a pit stop before Osaka.

They arrived mid morning Friday with friend Kento, the Tokyo Ale manager, just before I left to go to work in Tobishima. While I was working they all crashed out and got some rest.

When I got back home around 5pm, they all woke up and went to a local sento (public bath) while I went to the supermarket to buy the fixings for a nabe (hot vegetable stew).


CobaKen serving up the nabe


Ton & Richard

We hung out watching a new DVD by a Japanese psychedelic group called ROVO and ate dinner, while Kento worked on his laptop, a small Powebook, using my wireless network and placed beer orders for me. So cool.

Then Richard showed up full of giddiness and put on the Live Aid concert from 1985 which drew laughter with all the old school 80's fashion. Bono's bad hair mullet and knee high black boots and Freddy Mercury's flamboyancy almost eclipsed their generous accomplishments.

Afterwards, as people were slowly fading out, I put on Tenacious D: The Complete Master Works which drew even more laughs until everyone finally went to bed.

Saturday morning was slow and easy until we hopped in the car to make the drive to Osaka.

All the band members traveled in their large white nondescript van (license plate: 4 20) while Richard drove me and my friend Shaka in his English Pointer wagon.


English Pointer following the 4 20

Richard was a very adamant about staying right on the Frog's tail because we didn't know the way and he didn't want to get lost in the rain.

It worked out well for the most part except when we went through toll gates and couldn't follow the Frog through the ETC (automatic gates). Once, Richard was so worried we'd fallen behind after a toll gate that he raced and leap-frogged cars until we were actually a few kilometers ahead of the gang.

We eventually worked out the confusion, but only after we were almost crushed by a trailer truck when Richard refused to yield as the truck started coming into our lane. He actually revved the engine, then slammed on the brakes; nearly causing us to skid into the median railing and jostling all the luggage across the back of the wagon.

Things got really hectic once we hit rush hour traffic in Osaka and Big Frog was running late for their soundcheck. They were changing lanes often, trying to make a hole in the traffic, and Richard refused to let anyone come between their bumper and ours.

I think we weaved in and out of traffic in downtown Osaka for almost an hour before we finally found Club Vijon.



Once inside things started to get exciting. While Big Frog was doing their soundcheck, Kento, Shaka, and I were setting up the merchandise table for the band and Tokyo Ale. Richard walked around and snapped some great photos of the event.


Kento getting ready


Shaka lending a hand

Afterwards, the band went across the street to have an interview for Balance Magazine in a kushi-katsu restaraunt, so Shaka and I went to an Indian Curry Shop just next door.


Big Frog interview with Rie-chan for Balance Magazine

We crammed ourselves with curry and nan bread before going back to the club to check out the opening band, Aqua Bomb.

Aqua Bomb was a funky power trio whose lead singer came onstage in a wife-beater t-shirt and a pink & black leopard skin shag cowboy hat.

He often addressed the crowd as "Strawberry People" and informed us, "Za messegii wa... massagii," which translates to, "The message is massage." All the while doing a choreographed dance with his hands making waves and then a kind of wax on... wax off movement. Not to mention, at the end of every song he congratulated the crowd on a, "Naisu Kyachii." In other words, nice catch! Too funny.

Next up was DJ QuietStorm. He rocked the house with a unique blend of rock, hip-hop, and jazz. He got things started with a sliced up version of King Curtis' Memphis Soul Stew and kept the momentum up with mix of Led Zepplin's Whole Lotta Love opening guitar riff and some hip-hop tracks I didn't recognize.


DJ QuietStorm

QuietStorm eventually segued perfectly into Big Frog's set; scratching and cutting up break beats on time with Ton's drum kit to the opening song.


Ton

QuietStorm stuck around and played with the Frog for the first few songs until finally disappearing into the audience.


High Octane Silent Maccos

As Big Frog came out of the shoot firing on all cylinders and I started dancing, my mind drifted towards my family and some bleak news I received last week concerning my Uncle Ned's up hill battle with brain cancer.


Shimi

I determined that if I danced hard enough to the thermonuclear power Big Frog was churning out, I could somehow create enough energy to radiate a rising sun over my uncle and give him a glimmer of hope from afar.


Sato wailin' away

Maybe it was wishful thinking, but I rocked out as hard as I possibly could. The more blood sweat & tears I discharged, the more power I received from the band. I kept feeding off their octane rock until their alloted time was up and they left the stage.



I was so exhausted I had to take a seat on the floor of the club and catch my breath.


Me & Shaka taking a rest

Next thing I knew, everyone was packed up and ready to go. We lingered outside the club in the cool air for a few minuets before hopping back into Richard's car, this time with Q-san as an added passenger/driver.


Mota & Q-san


The Bleshing

Q-san brought his iPod and was able to connect it to Richard's stereo through the radio waves, something I'd never seen before, so we listened to Phish most of the ride back to Nagoya.

As we headed east listening to Phish's infamous '94 Tweezer set from the Bomb Factory, the sun started breaking through the on coming horizon and put on an awe-inspiring light show as it climbed higher and higher in the sky. It made me ponder that my positive energy output possibly did something good.

We dropped Q-san off at Nagoya Station, so he could catch an early train toward Tokyo, but Richard, Shaka, and I continued on to Heiwa-cho, and were blessed by an even more miraculous surprise.

Driving into Heiwa, much to my dismay, there was a wondrous full length rainbow arching directly over the top of my house. Once again my thoughts drifted towards my family, and I wished they, especially my uncle and cousins, could share such serenity.

What a beautiful morning!




My thanks goes out to Big Frog, Richard, Shaka, and the rest of the Bleshing Crew for making this such an astonishing weekend.

I will never forget it.