last weekend's penis party...

carrie, liz and i assembled quite a motley crew to hit the town on friday. we met at nest for happy hour and marveled at the bizarre mix as people trickled in. a frizzy haired fella we’d met a couple weeks ago showed up with a kimono and flip-flop clad friend, then liz and a clean-cut guy she met in osaka who was visiting for the weekend, then a breakdancer from the local club. we headed on to an izakaya for dinner where a more subdued [read: less drunk] friend of mine from out of town joined us, along with another pretty boy friend of a friend. the dynamic was surprisingly pleasant although it was the first time many of us had met each other. i take great interest in these types of get-togethers because its fabulous social training for japanese people who are usually mildly socially inept, extremely shy and anxious. guess lots of beer probably enabled this smashing success.

on saturday carrie and i went to help a friend pack boxes in preparation for a move out of town. we arrived sufficiently late and ended up doing more socializing than working [sorry alexi and carolyn]. then the girls hit the road, headed to tocchio for a friend's house party.

these girls are well-practiced socialites, with skills honed during years in sororities, and managed to gather about 30 people for dinner, drinks and a team competition that got dirty and hilarious.

then it was on to karaoke where our group comprised the entirety of the clientele.

it was nice to have free-reign over the place but it definitely facilitated our shenanigans.


the next day i had one of the most bizarre japanese experiences yet. tocchio is a small mountain town famous for two things: its fried tofu and its hodare matsuri, or fertility festival. we arrived in a snowstorm and trekked to the festivities. first we stumbled upon these men making mochi, rice cakes, the old fashioned way...

pounding the hot grains until they become sticky, gooey goodness.



there was a huge, 2.5 meter wooden phallus that people lined up to toss coins at and pray to before sipping sake presented to them by a priest.

before long men began swarming around the massive penis, tying ropes around the statue and hauling it from the little shrine down to the street where they placed it on a wooden frame meant to hold the organ in a horizontal position.

then the beauties of the fest mounted the phallus, clad in exquisite kimonos with all the dressings.

the men in the crowd used the beams of the wooden frame to lift the heavy carving and women off the ground and carry them up and down the narrow road.

then it was time for the rest of the women to beg the gods for fertility and of course i couldn’t resist.

ladies mounted, 3 at a time, and the men hoisted them up over their heads. it was actually pretty scary and a lot more like a bucking bronco than i’d expected.

glad i’m not superstitious cause the get pregnant quick thing doesn’t interest me. an older japanese man i met there said if i wasn’t looking to have children, i could use the fertility blessings i’d earned riding the big penis in other ways, like to make my farm prosperous. the whole setting was bizarre. some people appeared to understand why we found humor in the occasion, some chuckled quietly with friends, but there was an unbelievable sense of seriousness there, even amongst the assorted penis memorabilia for sale.
*further development:
i got an email from carrie the other day that read ‘have you seen this!’ with a link. i clicked and couldn’t believe my eyes. it was a video clip of me riding the beast posted on the internet. its on a popular video sharing website, i have no idea who shot it. i’ll repost it here so you guys can watch. ha, ha. how ridiculous.


thanks to michelle, from whom i stole some pics. xoxo