Nagasaki Kunchi

Yesterday I went to Nagasaki to see the Nagasaki Kunchi festival with the other exchange students. It was HOT and HUMID out. Like, really damn hot. We had a couple of hours before we had to be at the performance so we walked around the city and saw some of the sights and pretty much right at the first place we went to I was already sweaty and all I wanted was to go back to the hotel and take a shower. We mostly saw stuff that I had already seen because I had been into Nagasaki before, but many a couple of the other students don't stay in the Nagasaki area, so we went again. We saw Dejima, the only port in Japan that was open to foreigners during the isolation, the memorial to the 26 martyrs, the first 26 Christians who were massacred when Japan began its isolation, and a bridge that's famous for looking like eyeglasses. The Kunchi performance was pretty interesting, and it was fun to see what Japanese festivals were like. Plus we were in the VIP section, which is pretty rad. Most of the performances involved a bunch of dudes pulling a really heavy boat (I heard they were over two tons) on wheels around, and trying to go as fast as possible towards the guests of honor and stopping before they hit the table. One of the groups almost ran through the table and the lead dude got pressed up against the table and everyone in the crowd was all "EEEEEHHHHH????!!!" Also check out the dude who pops up right after the boat leaves. That guy was super rad. Every single time the performers did this (and they did it a whole ton. every single group ran off and on like seven times) he would stand up, along with some other people, and start throwing his arms up yelling "BANZAIIIIIII" to get the crowd to call the performers back. Tons of other people from would also run out onto the performance floor and yell too. It was loud.

They also had these real big "umbrellas." I guess they started off as umbrellas, but after a while just developed into what they are now because people just kept piling tons of shit on top of them. These things were really damn heavy too; over 100 kilos each. Pretty much the theme of Nagasaki Kunchi should just be GUYS CHECK OUT THIS THING IT IS HUGE. All they did with these was having a single person lift it by themselves and run around, stop, spin and repeat.

My favorite boat was the Dragon Boat. The dragon head was absolutely ridiculous. Not only did it have horns EVERYWHERE, teeth that could not possibly fit in its mouth and bloodshot eyes, it also breathed fire. It was most definitely the raddest boat.

At the end came the most impressive display of the entire festival. A ton of big dudes ran out carrying a big wooden carriage thing and ran around a bit which was all MEH ALRIGHT YEAH OKAY BRING BACK THE DRAGON. But then they threw the whole thing up into the air and caught it with only one arm. Knowing the Kunchi, it was probably pretty heavy. And you can't see it in the video, but in the carriage are three kids plaing drums, even as they're tossed up into the air.

Then afterwards we had din din and went to bed. Today we went around to more places I been already like the A-Bomb museum and Chinatown, but we saw this pig so it was all worth it.

I really don't have anything else to say, but I want to put these pictures up so HERE I GO. Hopefully most of them will speak for themselves.