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Monday, March 18, 2002 
Yesterday I went to the festival at the Takagata Shrine, amongst the gaikokujin around here this particular event is known as the Penis Festival. The weather was just rainy enough to keep most Japanese people from spending a few hours in the drizzle, but it was clear enough for almost every gaijin in Aichi prefecture to stand around under umbrellas that were too small just to catch a glimpse of the sacred two meter long cypress wood phallus. Most of us weren't going to be here next year and there don't seem to be too many events like this on the other side of the prime meridian. So, it was the highest concentration of non-Japanese people I had ever seen in Japan. Usually I'll only see one or two outside of school a day. Almost every gaijin was mad at every other gaijin for bothering to show up and ruin the genuine penis viewing experience.
I was all about the souvenirs. They were the most tasteless ones that you could find outside of your local porn store. All were guaranteed to cure something or bring good luck. I bought little things for my friends and family, that on second thought I might be too embarrassed to give out later. The actual penis parade was much different from other Japanese festivals I had been to. A few of the procession participants were too drunk to hold up their penis flags and ended up giving them to members of the audience to hold. Fistfights broke out as people fought over pieces of a tree with strips of polka-dotted fabric tied to the branches. I?fd never seen anyone raise a hand to anyone else as long as I?fve been in Japan, so this was a bit of a surprise.
posted by Alison 3/18/2002 08:42:00 PM
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posted by Alison 3/11/2002 06:19:00 PM
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