I know, I know...

It's been awhile since my last post. Mom complained the other day about my lack of activity...I know if she's complaining, it must really have been too long, since she only reads it about once a month or so!! Ha!

So, the countdown continues. Last post, we were at 14. Now we're looking at about 10! 10 weeks left before we fly out. Unbelievable. We'll be home before we know it.

The lack of posting has to do with a lack of interesting things going on. However, this past week was Golden Week here in Japan, providing occasion for a post. Golden week is one week which contains not 1, not 2, but 3 (three!!!) national holidays on Wed, Thurs, and Fri. So, after lame-duck work on Mon and Tues, it was time for the 5 day weekend. Hip-hip-hooray!!!

Wednesday was also the occasion of a very large local festival in our city called Dontaku (dough-n-ta-koo). There was a big parade, lots of stages set up around the city with various performances going on, lots of food to be eaten, and lots of Japanese people wanting to get their picture taken with a real live American.

Turns out, we managed to get ourselves put in the big parade. There was a large international section, made up of various resident aliens in Fukuoka, marching according to nationality. Being American, we decided to go last (kinda like dessert). Many nations were jockeying to be first, especially the wretched Canadians, but we decided America was secure enough to go last. We held up a big sign they gave us that identified our nationality, and one of us carried a big flag. Here's a picture of me with the flag:

Do I look like Captain America, or what?!? They instructed us to wear traditional clothing. A guy from Nepal wore a crazy feather-head dragon outfit, the Brazilian ladies wore peacock dancing outfits, the Taiwan ladies wore elaborate gowns with umbrella hats...all I could think of was a football jersey and sunglasses. We found it ironic that they asked us to wear traditional clothing, only to give us Japanese shirts to wear when we arrived. Now, I ask you, what's the point of looking foreign when you're going to have to cover it up with a Japanese outfit? These people make no sense sometimes. I refused to tie my shirt (ha-pee) in protest. It seems they truly can't stand any semblance of diversity.

Here's a shot of us representin'.

There were only 5 Americans marching, so we got to do lots of important stuff, like hold the sign, play with the flag, and wave a lot.

While marching in the parade, we had a most unexpected experience (besides the big TV cameras in our face). On the way into town, we noticed that our bus was full of old people, and there were old people walking around everywhere. Seems that the festival really gets the old folks out and about. Anyway, these old people completely shocked us by applauding us when we walked by. They didn't applaud for the Canadians, Australians, Burmese or Brunei. When they saw us, their faces lit up and they showed a genuine love and respect for the good old US of A. Who would've thought? I always suspected the old people hated us. After all, my grandparent's generation bombed the snot out of those very individuals and then occupied their country for years. Turns out, they're actually grateful. We've heard many theories for their gratitude, including protection from the Soviets, economic development, even deposition of the military government. Whatever the reason, we felt loved.

As I mentioned, after the parade we got lots of requests for pictures. Here's a fun picture of Jackie and me with a bunch of girls in traditional Japanese dress. They were university students, I guess.
I told them they were "beautiful girls," and gave them a knowing wink and a nod. I think a couple almost fainted. Silly girls. But they do look nice, wouldn't you agree? Their dresses were beautiful, and they were in high spirits. This photo effectively captures the essence of the festival.

For more and better photos, be sure to visit my friend James' blog. You can find the link to his page in the margin to the right, under the heading "Blogging Friends." He's an avid photographer, and was able to photograph the parade since he wasn't marching. But consider yourself warned...he posted a shot of a "lady-boy." Nothing revealing, just disturbing. But things like that are just part of the experience!

On a different note, we have made reservations for our flight back to the States. We're looking at July 24th. We managed to save about a week's worth of paid vacation, enabling us to enjoy visiting before school and work start up in September. Hopefully, we'll be able to see some of you relatively soon!

This has gone on long enough. Thanks for reading!

note: these pictures are courtesy of our friend Shannon, who was kind enough to be in the right place at the right time.