The Cheesehead Swap

This past weekend was the Hachioji matsuri or the summer festival in the city that I work in. It was a three-day festival. After work on Saturday, some co-workers and I went to see the mikoshi/dashi parade. Here is a photo of one of the mikoshi. Neighborhoods own/parade the mikoshi, and they are pretty elaborate things! They have a front stage area that holds two or three musicians and a dancing character (the shishi in this picture), and they have a little enclosed room on the back half. Here is a picture of one that was sitting along the main pedestrian mall that our old school used to be located on. The rest of them were being pulled up and down the main parade route.

Also this past weekend, the weather gods of Fuji-san proved once again that they don't like me. I had to cancel another planned trip to Fuji due to the rainy forecast. But it wasn't all bad though, as an old friend of mine arrived in Tokyo on Sunday afternoon. Heather will be teaching a few hours north of Tokyo through the JET program (government) for the next year, and she had a three-day orientation in Tokyo. It was a little weird that two girls from Kaukauna were meeting up half way around the world for dinner and drinks! Regardless, it was wonderful to see her, and I wish her the best of luck for her coming year in Japan.

Finally, here's a photo that I took of a new skyscraper being built in Shinjuku. I think it is interesting how it looks like they are using gigantic pieces of duct tape to reinforce the glass during construction.

T-minus one day and counting until I depart on my next vacation (VietNam and Cambodia). Yipee!