Of Festivals, Floats, and Flaundry

Dear Family, Last week was the Gion Yamakasa Festuival in Fukuoka commemorating an episode in the 13th Century when a priest was carried throughout the city to bless the poeple and forstall the advance of the plague. Now they build huge floats and strong men dress in scant costumes and carry these floats weighing a couple of tons through the streets in a 5k race. There are seven communities each featuring its own float and carrying team. It takes a team of 32 men to heft the float and starting at sunrise, they run through the streets in relays while the spectators throw buckets of water on them. Attached is a picture of one of the floats and us posing with three of the men who carry them. I threw in a picture of our automatic clothes dryer just for the fun of it. Yesterday we celebrated Dan's birthday observed with a nice dinner at a Japanese/Indian restaurant called the Milan. Okay, maybe it's part Italian too, who knows? Oh yeah, sometimes we actually work at the office too. love from your corespondents in the Far East.

Festival float

Float-bearers

Automatic clothes-dryer:)