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Looking back I notice that I haven`t posted anything since Sunday. This is
because I have been mostly inebriated since then in one way or another.
Today I went for a job interview at the World Trade Centre (Osaka) It is
for an English teacher position teaching classes of 35 11 year olds three
days a week around various schools in Sakai city which is another part of
Osaka. It went alright until the last fifteen minutes when they asked me on
the spot to devise an activity regarding learning the names of animals in
English and they would pretend to be the children. It didn`t go very well
but I think they will give me the job as they seemed a bit desperate for
staff. The office was literally a medium size room with a table, computer
and a phone and two people in it which didn`t give me a very good
impression.

On Tuesday night we went to the preliminaries of a festival where hundreds
of men from many of the 30 various neighbourhoods of Kishiwada City which
makes up a part of Osaka each get together and pull intricately carved
wooden floats around the city. One participant dies almost every year.

On Tuesday night they attached lanterns to the floats and pulled them slowly
around the city. They get drunk, everyone gets drunk. It is pretty and a
lot of fun. But not as fun as the main event. On Wednesday starting from
nine each of the teams takes their float and pulls them to the local Shinto
shrine where they are blessed by a Shinto priest and pray. This lasts until
about one. I went there at about 10 with Reiko. Unfortunately I was
abandoned just before arriving as her and her mum had to go into the city on
business.

This left me looking like no mates Simon on his own. I got myself a good
spot and waited for the floats to come by. Three hours and a nice pair of
lobster red forearms later the people finally arrived. It was literally a
hundred people (from children to old men) to each team pulling long thick
ropes. There are some people on the float itself with pipes, drums and
bells banging along and best of all one crazy man on the top of the roof
whose job it is to direct the pullers and the people who control the rudder
and brakes by signalling with his fans whilst leaping and generally prancing
around on the top. To be there is a very honourable position as well as
being the most dangerous as if the float crashes they get catapulted off and
meet cold hard pavement.

I was stationed on a corner with railings which had sandbags stacked up in
front of it - an ominous sign I only fully appreciated the significance of
when the first of the floats or danjiri came careering around the corner and
almost collided with the sandbags were it not for the people doing the
braking and the bloke on top`s skillful direction. About five came round in
twenty minutes all accompanied by shouts of solyu which I guess means heave
or something like that. Reiko came back a bit after that with some sushi and
a litre can of beer. Yes.

The procession lasts about five hours as it goes all the way around
Kishiwada. They build special grandstands at certain points so you can
watch the fun. It is a very famous, dangerous and crazy festival. School
is cancelled and everyone including those doing the pullling (and myself)
got drunk and had a good time.