So much cooler than those boring July 4th installations in New York's East river
Showing posts with label JAPANESE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JAPANESE. Show all posts
PENIS FESTIVAL - ITS THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN !
Kanamara Matsuri
On the first Sunday of April each year, a very interesting festival is held at the Kanamara Shrine in the Kanagawa Prefecture in Tokyo. It's known as the Kanamara Matsuri, or Festival of the Steel Phallus.
The festival dates back to the Edo period(1603-1867), when prostitutes would visit the shrine to pray for good business and protection from syphillis. At this time of year they would carry an image of the shrine's phallus around the streets.
Today the Kanamara Festival is a fertility festival (and after visiting I have to admit I'm feeling especially fertile) and it also used to help to raise money for HIV research.
The festival started with maiko(trainee geisha) dancing on a stage. This was then followed by the mikoshi(portable shrine) with phalluses on the top being blessed. After this they were then carried through the streets of Tokyo. In fact one of the shrines(the big pink one) was carried by a group of transvestites. If you want to you can even join in carrying the shrines if you like (a dress is optional).
If your easily embarassed it's probably not your thing, but from what I could tell everybody had a great time. I think the great thing about the festival is that it shows what a wonderful sense of humour Japanese people have.
If you want to you can also buy penis shaped sweets.
People also carve out penises from various vegetables such as carrots or radishes. These are later auctioned off to the highest bidder.
One of the funniest things to happen was when I was having my photo taken on one of the huge wooden phalluses that you can sit on. Just as my picture was about to be taken, an old lady walked up and put her arm on me.
JAPAN LAUNCHES MOON MISSION
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully launched an H-2A rocket designed to help the growing space agency explore the Earth's moon. The Selenological and Engineering Explorer, or SELENE, separated from the H-2A around 45 minutes after launching from Tanegashima.
"We successfully launched the rocket and released the orbiter from the rocket," said Eriko Sunada, JAXA spokesperson.
JAXA describes the mission as the largest lunar mission since the NASA Apollo mission more than 30 years ago. Using three satellites -- two located at polar opposites -- JAXA hopes to help learn more about the origin and evolution of the moon. JAXA previously launched a lunar mission more than 15 years ago, but it was designed only to conduct fly-bys of the moon's surface.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)