熊本旅行と豊年祭り Kumamoto Trip and Honen Festival! (Giant Phalluses!)

Hello Ladies and Germs. Just an update on my recent trip to Kumamoto and my (as yet undisclosed to any of my readers) day trip to the Hounen Matsuri. First, Kumamoto. After much angst in America, I finally decided, at the urging of Goto san, our head caretaker, not to go by plane but instead by shinkansen (the bullet train). I had not realized that this could be done, because Kumamoto is on Kyushu island and Nagoya is not. But there is a convenient bridge and a tunnel. Aren't those industrious Japanese fellas (in a androgynous sense) grand? I wonder how many tunnels there are in Japan. Scott suggested that I do my thesis report on this topic. A joke, but I think also insightful commentary on theses. (I love that word: theses, theses. You smell like theses.) I arrived in Hakata station, which is in Fukuoka. After arriving, i realized that Scott's number wasn't working on the pay phone. (i will never understand why it didn't.) I got pretty dejected at that point, because my luggage was really heavy, and the shoulder strap broke in Nagoya Station (名駅） (how embarrassing: in front of a big crowd, on the stairs no less. Lucky my omiyage, maple syrup, didn't break!) Eventually, i set down my burden in Mister Donuts and had lunch. When i finished, the moment i emerged from the automatic door, I spotted a Gaijin that looked suspiciously like family (not that he looks like me, but he looked like he was looking for me). Sure enough, it was Scott come to save me from the wasteland of a train station. We went to meet his lovely wife and her mother (yabai! i felt so grubby and under dressed, and we went to a really ritzy restaurant where i had a 600yen cappuccino) After we went to Cosco, which is like a Sam's Club, including american Goods, in japan. Finally, we drove home. The next day, I went to an elementary school with Scott (he has 3 or 4). I did my schpiel four times and played with the kids at recess. I wish i could have gone back. I didn't even get kancho'ed. They sure tried though. I mentioned in my previous email how i visited the castle the next day. Picture doozo. It was nice to be alone with out other Gaijin tourists or even very many japanese tourists. Very peaceful. The next couple days were not overly memorable. I biked around Uto, where Scott lives, went to a birthday party for another JET teacher, we went out to various places, Scott's favorite restaurants, met tons of his friends etc. I found I have a good number of things in common with him. It was great getting to know a distant relative; maybe someday our kids will hang out. Friday we went again to another of his elementary schools, and this was an even better day than Monday. We played dodgeball with the kids. In the fourth grade class they asked dozens of questions about my girlfriend, which was funny. Saturday, we visited the cave of Reigan-Do, where Musashi Miyamoto, reputedly one of the best swordsmen in history and author of The Book of Five Rings, meditated in his later life (while he was composing the Go Rin no Sho, probably) That was interesting. It was raining though. I had lasagna that night. Yum. The next day was probably the highlight of my sight seeing experiences in Kyushu. I went to see Aso-San, or Mt. Aso, which is the world's largest caldera (depending on how you measure the largest that is; apparently there is some disagreement here). It was unspeakable beautiful. I highly recommend it. My pictures don't do it justice, but lets see if I have anything to post. That will do. Then, before i could say knife, it was time to go back again.
Hardly had i gotten settled back in, when i got wind of a rather interesting sounding festival that i thought might be worth seeing. Actually, i thought it was a rather famous festival that i had read about before, but apparently they have several different ones like this in japan. In Komaki, they had what was called a Hounen matsuri, or a good harvest festival. This sounds all well and good, but from what i could tell, the gods being supplicated and the implements being blessed were more of the fertile and fleshy variety, if you know what i am saying, nudge nudge, say no more, say no more, nod is as good as a wink, eh govnor? Well, to be perfectly frank, it was a phallic festival, and lord were they everywhere. From the organic looking ancient rocks to the evocatively carved bananas and hot dogs and lollipops sold by the vendors. There was a parade with phalluses, a shrine filled with statues of them, artists selling sake services etc, in the shape of phalluses, etc ad nauseum. perhaps you would like to see a photo of that too? This was the new year's phallus to be enshrined in the place of last year's. The old one is sold to a business or local resident. So there are phalluses dotting the surrounding area, enshrined and attended by sacrifices. Imagine doing a homestay with that in the next room. Well, i guess it is thyme for dom to go to sleep. Today was the welcome party for the new students, by the way. Oyasumi!