Kawasaki Fertility Festival!

I finally got around to uploading the pictures from last Sunday! It was a wonderful day of day drinking (Glenn you were missed!) and good friends. The festival provided lots of laughs, but because of the earthquake, there was no parade which is always the best part. We started the morning around 10:00 am with screw drivers. Good thinking, Nikki!

The festival had the usual (now that I've been to 3 of these, I suppose I can say "usual") anatomical-shaped suckers and food. It will never seem ok to see an elementary school-aged child eating one of these. Also, what parents bring their kids to these places?

This festival is also famous for its cross-dressers unlike the one in Tagata. Of course we had to take pictures with them! This guy was a cat for some reason.

This man was working at one of the booths selling key chains or candies. I asked him if I could take his picture and he said, "Yes. Of course! You are most beautiful woman. You take my breath away." Thanks, buddy!

 Some of our new friends eating more anatomy-shaped candy.

After we wandered around the temple (yes, these festivals are held in religious places) we headed back to the train station to go to El Torino in Yokohama. Let the day drinking continue!

 Mexican food, moscow mules and a giant dessert with Ann-chan.

After a full day of day drinking, I was in bed and asleep by 8:45 pm. 11 hours of sleep? Yes, please!

Kanamara Matsuri

I'm headed to Kawasaki's annual festival today with some great friends! It should be an interesting time. It's also known as the Kawasaki Fertility Festival. Pictures later this week!

Tagata Fertility Festival

WARNING....The following post may not be suitable for children (although you may see children in some of the pictures, but that's just the Japanese for you)

So yesterday morning, bright and early, myself and 4 friends headed to Tagata, near Nagoya, about 4 hours away. We rented a van from the Autoport (free tolls with government vehicles! otherwise the tolls would have been $130 round trip, ugh!) and hit the road. On a side note, I love road trips with girls, because we always pack a ridiculous amount of snacks and drinks and always make an appropriate number of bathroom/shopping stops.

We got to Tagata around 11 am and once we got to the Fertility Shrine, we saw this and we knew we were in for a good time:Those are chocolate covered bananas, by the way. There was a wide array of appropriately shaped treats for the occassion:We ate, walked around the booths and the shrine, and also walked to a shrine close by where the parade was beginning. We were able to see much of the parade before it actually walked down the street. This wasn't just a bachlorette party gone bad, but actually a religious festival for those people hoping to increase their fertility. We saw several families being blessed by the priests in the shrine, but then there were the other several thousand of us just going "Oh my goodness, another penis." Good times.

Here was the piece de resistance, the portable shrine that is carried through the parade by twelve 42-year old men. Apparently, 42 is the age where men need...well...a purple fertility shrine.

Here we are from left to right: Nicole, me, Alba, Traci and in front: Gizelle.

And I guess while were at it, I might as well give you the full picture because words cannot really describe everything. Pictures are so much better:

Update: I had to take these pics down because Blogger sensored them. They were pretty funny though while they lasted :)