2/18/2003: Naked festival

Japanese culture: I will never understand it.

What you're seeing is only a few of 9,000 men - yeah, all men - dressed only in skimpy white loincloths, trying to ward off bad luck by touching the body of the year's appointed "sacred man" as he enters Konomiya Shrine.

They crowd so fiercely that even though there is nothing but bodies and a few pieces of cloth, 2 men were badly injured in this year's event when they were crushed.

The ceremony is 1200 years old. No event so strange could last so long without some sort of deep religious/cultural significance. That's why I know I'm being terribly disrespectful when I say that two quarts of oil dumped into the middle might turn the whole thing into a gay orgy.

Oh dear, I'm very sorry I said it.

Re: 2/18/2003: Naked festival

I've read that frotteurism is very popular in Japan, although it's usually practiced on the public transit system.

Well, that's a little departure from all the naked peace lawn art, PETA protesters, and Spencer Tunick photos...

From the looks on their faces, I'm guessing that this event has evolved into yet another reason for Japanese men to get smashed and vent their oppressed inner selves in one great huge purging.