Blast from the Past: The Hiroshima Flower Festival

This post, I`m afraid, is over a month late.  The Hiroshima Flower Festival, an annual downtown extravaganza celebrating peace, unhealthy street-vendor food, and little girls dancing in skimpy outfits, took place at the beginning of May.  But between one thing and another, we never got around to posting about it.  I will now rectify that oversight.  And don`t you dare complain about my tardiness on this one, or I`ll stick you in the kappa-crotch bounce house (see below).

Rah-rah peace!  Rah-rah Japan!  There must have been literally hundreds of dance troops at this festival.  Some were spectacular, some were composed entirely of preschoolers jumping up and down and waving to their moms, and most were a mixture of both.  But seriously, at any one time there were at least four different dance troops performing in different locations around Peace Memorial Park.

A traditional drum group performs near the Peace Museum.  Ryan was absolutely tickled that he managed to catch this man`s ribbon in mid-twirl.  Do him a favor and act like you`re really excited about it! :P

The crowd on Heiwa-odori (Peace Boulevard) got even more horrendous than this, believe it or not.  There were times when I thought I would either pass out, throw up, or spontaneously combust if we didn`t get away from the relentless crush of human bodies (and Winnie the Pooh inflatables).

This dude rocked the house as far as I`m concerned.  He was a competitor in an enka-singing contest.  Enka is a very traditional form of Japanese music, roughly equivalent to country western in the United States.  Except only old people listen to (and sing) enka.  The crowd at this man`s performance was like a geriatric convention.

Meanwhile, the crowd at this show was all under seven.  These are characters from a children`s show produced by NHK, the Japanese equivalent of PBS.

This is one of those bouncey houses they always have at carnivals and/or rich kids` birthday parties.  It was shaped like a kappa, a Japanese mythological creature.  It also featured a very unfortunately-placed exit via the kappa`s...erm, loins.

What didn`t they have at the Flower Festival?  At one poine, we stumbled across this yurt.  It was part of an exhibition on Mongolia.  Apparently, Mongolians are trying to raise interest in their country and drum up some tourists and investors.  And they were so nice about it!

They even let me try on a traditional Mongolian outfit.  I, for one, hope they succeed in raising Mongolia Awareness.  Go Mongolia go!

A robot panda.  What`s Japan without robots?  Honestly, I`m disappointed in myself for not having posted a picture of one prior to this.

Japan`s most famous homeless man, Hiroshima Taro.  You can`t see it so well in this picture, but he`s totally covered in UFO Catcher dolls.  I guess people gave them to him or something?  It`s something of a mystery.　　　

There was also a tourist booth for Daegu, Korea; and again, I got to dress up.  This time, they put me in a hanbok.  I guess they hadn`t been planning on any American-size people visiting their booth, though, since they had to give me the biggest habok they had.  Jeez, I`m such a giantess around here. :(

Demons performing a traditional Japanese dance.  At one point, one of the kids climbed up on the stage and the demons charged at him.  They scared the poop out of him so bad he ran back through the crowd screaming for his mom.  Little bugger deserved it, if you ask me.

Wooden cranes in Peace Memorial Park, lit from within by lanterns.

Ryan likes to complain about how much his camera was freaking out when he took this picture, but I think it turned out kind of rad.  Dig that halo around the flame.

Small lanterns in Peace Memorial Park.  Each one had been decorated by a Japanese student.

This is the most contemplative I`ve ever looked in a photograph.  Heck, this is the most contemplative I`ve ever looked PERIOD.  In case you couldn`t tell, I didn`t know I was being photographed.

A close-up of some of the lanterns, whereupon were scrawled pleas for peace and harmony.  And occassionally, pictures of Pikachu and Raichu fighting.  I think some of the kids missed the point...

A float in the Flower Festival parade.  Note the woman at the very left, Miss Thailand 2010.  I guess she really had nothing better to do than fly to Hiroshima and stand on a float all day.

Some dancers in the Flower Festival parade.  I love the really small kid toward the center left.  He`s having a blast, even though he has no idea what the heck he`s supposed to be doing.  Sure, kid, just keep jumping up and down for the duration of the song.  That`ll wow `em!

These girls danced in a rather...well, wanton fashion.  And the four-year-old prostitot at left just about broke my heart.  Didn`t her mother look at her before she left the house?  What is the world coming to!?

This group had the most energy of any single group of people in the history of ever.  (Go ahead; try to diagram that sentence.  I dare you).