With its proximity to Korea and China, Fukuoka has long had close links to the Asian mainland and has always been an important entry point for foreign influences. These days it has established itself as one of Japan's most outward-looking cities and activily encourages international exchange. To promote this the city organises the annual Asian Festival, where visitors can sample dishes from Thailand to Nepal and check out performances from Vietnamese rock bands, Malaysian drummers, Chinese flutists etc. My favorite was the Indian dance, done in Bollywood style and complete with Japanese performers!
On Saturday we went to the Nakasu Matsuri to witness the all women-parade. This event is quite unique but makes more sense when you find out that Nakasu is the main 'entertainment' district in Fukuoka, so there's certainly no shortage of ladies! While the area is only 1500 m long by 250 m wide, it nevertheless manages to squeeze in more than 2500 restaurants, foodstalls and hostess bars. The seductive outfit worn by this woman is the unofficial 'uniform' of hostesses here.
We were joined by Canadian JET Phil, who's doing a rather lousy job at looking scary ;-)!
2000 yen to touch my plastic boob?? Hm... Surrealism on the streets of Nakasu.
Start of the women's parade. Usually these heavy shrines are carried by strong men, but during this festival the women have to flex the muscles themselves. Girl power indeed.
The participants take turns in standing on top of the shrine and leading the group.
This beautiful girl was standing out in the crowd of children, almost as if she was posing, or thinking about something very deeply.
How cute... Or as the Japanese would say: "Kawaii!"
Inge trying to blend in in a crowd of short, glamorous Japanese women. No chance!
The end of the festivities were marked by a series of impressive, frenetic dances that were amazing to watch but undoubtedly exhausting to perform!
No comments:
Post a Comment