pictures on my iPhone

Unfortunately, during our last night in Osaka, my sister`s camera went missing, filled with all her pictures from her trip. Can you imagine? She is totally bummed, and so am I. If any of you have pics of my sister and I, PLEASE let me know.


Here are two walls of the gallery. I'm so happy to finally have it all done.

I just got back from Osaka. Outside my house the drumming and whistling continue as the Taikodai, like dragons made of light, illuminate the streets and return from the shrine back to their respected neighborhoods. Being the last event of the four-day long festival, it's mostly the young men and teenagers carrying (or rolling) the golden dragon-shrines. Positions which are usually reserved for the leaders of the neighborhood (such as standing on the polls and directing everyone) are now filled by the toughest youth-poor kids-their parents probably proud, drunk, and tired, walking slowly behind with the rest of the neighborhood. When two taikodai meet, which happened right outside my apartment, they usually prepare to fight: they yell at each other, chant "Sorya Sorya!" back and forth, and drum louder and faster. If the two teams decide to really fight, they will charge with their two-ton floats, poles tilted high in an attempt to pierce the other team's drum. It's so dangerous! But if this ancient tradition happens, not only can people die, but the floats are about $500,000 each and harming one would cost everyone in the neighborhood lots of money. And on top of that, teams caught fighting are punished by not being able to participate in the events next year. Thus tonight they just taunted each other, one team finally backing down and moving on. Lucky us, I got a rare photo of the hot drummers at work inside their float (they lifted the golden doors to cool themselves off). Although the young men were dripping with sweat and clearly exhausted, their muscular arms beat that drum hard and strong. I was very impressed.










-Erin and Fernando at the festival.
-Martha feeding a monkey in Kyoto.
-Some scenes from the bullet train this afternoon, japan right now is so effing beautiful.
-Martha, Erin and I with the backup guitarist from The Offspring. Thanks to Emily who knows their current security guard, we got to see their show in Osaka, go back stage, and party with them afterwards!
A fur protest in Osaka. "I'd rather go naked than wear fur."