The rich keep gettin' richer

There is so much to discuss on here, it just isn't even funny. First tonight was Nebuta's grand finale at night and I went with Miwa and her family. Miwa lent me a kimono and apparently I was dressed by an expert that she called in. It was fun, I ate some sushi (not very happily, however). When the parade was over, we were leaving and we walked upon this massive crowd gathered around a man laying on the pavement. I was holding hands with Miwa's 5 year old son, Genbi and I was wondering what was going on... then I noticed a massive opening in the back of the man's head and his blood stained clothes - I threw myself in front of Genbi so he wouldn't see it. He tried to get around me because he was curious and I ended up taking him away, telling him it was okay. I was mainly trying to tell myself that. Miwa, who is a good citizen was all up in the chaos - I think calling an ambulance. There were at least 75 people crowded around that scene.. Horrific.
ANYWAY! It took me some time to bounce back to happy Melissa, but we went to Miwa's bar. NICE. Want to know what drink was offered to me?

DOM PERIGNON. I know, Mom, it's alcohol and all that but do you have ANY idea how expensive this stuff is? Plus - this was served at Princess Diana's wedding. Word. ;)
Anyway, I impressed the crowd when I sang the song 'Shiroi Ryuu'. That is my best Japanese karaoke song and I was proud of myself for singing when I was so embarrassed and NOT a professional at all, but I guess it doesn't matter when you can sing every word correctly.
At the end of the night, I was showing one of Miwa's employees and Miwa's husband how to play Angry Birds and they were just awful at it. Then Miwa's husband shared with me his BLACK American Express CARD and really loved to tell me how he knows lots of famous Japanese people -- like Mai Kuraki (who is hugely popular here in Japan and I've listened to her songs for years now).
- I will post more pictures and a video tomorrow! Yaaaay.

Atsui. (It's hot)

I remember my dad telling me when he was little, his family didn't have air conditioning.

I know what it's like Dad. I don't like it. So you all back home, with you (MOM!) telling me it's SOOOooooOOoo hot - remember the luxury you have. But keep running the air because I want Lexi to keep cool. And you too, I guess :)

Nebuta x 2

Beyond thrilled I went to Nebuta tonight. I was thinking against it, but my buddy from England came in town to watch it so I went with him and his wife.
Me and Colin.

Shark week in Japan too!

Little girl couldn't handle the excitement.

Considered the ugliest dog in Japan.... they'd freak if they saw the ugliest American dogs.

Obviously this was the cute part of the parade :)

MY FAVORITE.

UNBELIEVABLE!!

Cute little dog :)

Even CUTER dog!!

For the people (like Mrs. Hatton) who wonder why everything is so mean.... a happy scene on a float :)

Tomorrow is the day with Miwa and we're doing it Miwa style ... reserved seats. Yep, that's right. You have to BUY those suckers, but it's apparently one of the best spots.... and I'll be wearing my hat again!! YAY!!!!

I just wanna bang on the drum all day

Just want to say a quick thank you to Google Voice which is now charging me .01 cents a minute to call my parents. And because I cannot PAY, I cannot call them anymore. And they are notoriously horrible at staying on Skype - so this BLOWS.
Other than that bad news tonight, I went to Nebuta and I wore my hat and EVERYONE stared like crazy. It doesn't bother me because they stare all the time ANYWAY. I took some videos and some pictures. At one point I remember thinking to myself
'Dude. It smells. I need to find out who isn't wearing deodorant NOW.'
And wouldn't you know it - there were 2 french people in front of me. NO JOKE. IT WAS A HORRIBLE, SMELLY FRENCH MAN. Stereotypes = FACTS.

Well ANYWAY, on to the shortened picture version of the parade!

Totally thought about my dad... wish he could have seen THIS

My favorite snacking fried chips:

Literally called the 'Dancing Pig.'

My favorite picture... the dragon is so cool.

Horse down!!

I'm going Saturday and I'm not working tomorrow night so I might as well go tomorrow night too! YAY!!!

Surprise Nebuta visit!

Tonight before my last class I biked to watch 15 minutes of Nebuta. It was GREAT. Loads more people and it was much louder. Some nice guy was trying to talk to me while I watched and I hopefully* explained I am a teacher and could only watch for a few minutes. Eventually, I had to leave and I was a bit sad.
Well, I hit my class and one of my students said she works every night and won't have time to go to Nebuta this year. NOT OKAY. So I asked if she would like to go. WE WENT. MY CLASS WENT. We spent 45 minutes watching Nebuta and I'd yell at them if they spoke in Japanese. It was fantastic. One of my other students asked as we walked back to school if I took pictures and I told him no... I kept saying 'wow' too often to take a picture.
Tomorrow night my class has already decided to go so I will try to bring my camera. And if not - I'll at least wear that ballin' hat.
* - Thank you to the Google Translate App. It is my lifeline in this country.

Fishy hat!

Today was a nice day. Even though I missed day one of Nebuta, I took my huge break time to shop around. TOTALLY GLAD I DID (even though I was trying to pick up my bike which fell while I was shopping and this woman distracted me to give me a coupon to a restaurant and I FELL OVER and cut up my arm in front of dozens of people. Smooth.... she gave me extra coupons I think because she felt bad. STILL WORTH IT!)
I bought my parents some presents that they'll get when they come visit (they are cool. Trust me) and I bought myself something purty. Wanna see?

Are you jealous? Well, you should be. I'm gonna wear this bad boy every night this week during class - and I'll definitely be wearing it Saturday when I hit up the parade on the biggest day with my friend Miwa and her kids. You've seen them before. So today I dropped 10,000 yen. I won't tell you how much that is in dollars because it's not so good. Most was for my parents. You're welcome! :-D

The *quite loud* art of war

There's really no words to describe Nebuta - at least not what happened today. I took over 100 pictures and there is absolutely no way I can post them all here.... thinking about starting a little photo album on the web -- but if you're friends with me on facebook you can check those out now. For the record, this was a practice night for the people and the floats and it was mayhem. But I got up as close as you can so THAT sure was neat-o! The real party starts August 2nd. LET'S GET IT STARTED!!!
I hate HATE that you can hear me talking because I hate hate HAAAATE my voice but here is the best way to show you all what Nebuta is like and what it sounds like. 'Cause it's loud. REALLY loud. I can still hear those frilly bamboo flutes screaming in my head.

Oh, and here. Enjoy a small sampling of Nebuta in picture form:

The drums

Definitely my favorite Nebuta float JUST because there's a chimpanzee on it!! :)