a weekend of hyperlinks

If I had to choose three things to sum up this weekend they would be:

• a typhoon
• butts
• more butts

The main destructo path of Typhoon Man-yi wasn't too close to Fukuoka but that didn't stop the clouds from going all Neverending Storyish (see seconds 23 - 30 for reference). It also didn't stop me from sitting on my floor all day and watching the outside expecting it to get worse and fantasizing about rationing my food (Pop Tarts would be eaten first; tasteless Japanese oats I accidentally bought instead of rice would be last). It went like this:



That evening I put my camera and wallet into plastic baggies and left my bunker to meet some other teachers in Tenjin and make a night of it waiting for the final phase of the Yamakasa Festival beginning at 4:59 a.m. (Seriously click that link and read about it because I'm too lazy to type an explanation.)

It was nice to be out with a purpose, not trying to make the last train home, not dreading having to wait until 5:50 for the first train or pay 3500 yen for a taxi home after you've (I've) missed the last train. The place we were in had a blackout for a while, but we happened to have candles, and so the intense game of Jenga being played continued while the rest of the patrons stared at us playing new Fire-Jenga. Or at least it seemed like they were probably staring. I don't really know because they were in complete darkness.

We then moved on to an izakaya with good music and fish flakes aplenty and finally joined the other throngs of people around the area of Kushida Shrine for the race. Here's the only picture I was brave enough to take of an official Yamakasa team uniform:



Oh my. As there are hundreds of men on each of the seven teams, things got a little...cheeky.

I was cracking up.

And after piddling all day long the minute before the race began sheets of ran started pouring but things didn't get behind.

Ok, I'm done now. Anyway, here's a little video of the second team's start:



After the shenanigans dissipated I went to breakfast with Shinji, a teacher from my school, and we had a good long it's-insanely-early-in-the-morning-and-we've-been-up-all-night-talk. Then I went home and got my soaking but completely covered posterior to bed. It was a kick-ass time -- no butts about it.

No, really, I'm done now.