You cannot carry your cross while sitting on the fence

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Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Obon Parade, part I

I am putting a disclaimer on this post!
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There was a big parade right outside the main gate and so we went to see it. You always see pictures of these sort of thing's in books; so it was strange to be living it!

This was the largest float. This was the only one that I saw that wasn't being carried on peoples shoulders! They actually carried them. The Americans went by with a float...it was sort of amusing looking at the difference between the Japanese and the Americans. The Japanese were concentrated and almost solemn. But then here came the American crowd! A beer in one hand, and holding the float with the other...while throwing it in the air!
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Everyone was throwing their floats in the air and yelling something that almost sounded like, "Russia!"
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This is a guy...I'm not really sure what was with all of the cross-dressers. If this was in America, I would left long before this guy showed up!
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Your guess is as good as mine!
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This just looked so..."Japanesey," it's the picture you see in all the books about Japan..so I took a picture!
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This is that first one, only in the dark. This one was so big it was having trouble with the narrow roads. It actually hit a light post once.
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I'm not 100% sure who they are...but they had bamboo swords and were fighting, so here it is!
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There is a LOT of pcitures, so I needed to do it in two parts. I may even need to do it in 3! I loved the parade. As they would say in Aladin, "It's just so magical."

6 comments:

Natalie said...

OK, the horse head thing is the scariest for sure. :)

Krista said...

It looks awesome

Jared said...

Natalie-Oh good, I'm not the only one who was scared by it! lol

Jared said...

Yes Krista, it really is awesome! lol

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

I suppose the most outlandish costume Japanese men could come up with was the cross dressing thing...you'll remember that was my first question too. Why are all the men cross dressing? ::snort::

Jared said...

The question of the century!

votejaredn29