Doburoku Matsuri...

...also known as the unrefined raw sake festival, and if you drink the doburoku, you will be of good health all year round. This festival was located on the far south side of Nagoya in a city called Kyowa. The first thing you notice when you walk up to entrance is large monsters walking around smacking kids in the head.It quickly crossed my mind, "why are those monsters smacking the kids?" Well, it turns out the monsters are called Shojo, loves sake and if the monster smacks your kid with a bamboo stick your kid will grow healthy and smart. If you are older and the monster smacks you, it will lead to a long life. I was tapped twice!!Then out of no where, these two monsters started to smack each other. Monster on monster violence.I actually think the monsters were enjoying to much sake, but after a few minutes the scuffle calmed down and they were back to tapping kids.

The other interesting aspect of this raw sake festival was that is was a raw sake festival, and the sake was free. So, what happens if you give away sake?That's right, people everywhere, everyone in line is making their way to that white tent on the left. You can kind of see the row of people their giving away sake. The line actually moved really fast, their was 8 people pouring into these little cups.And as my coworker and I were standing here enjoying the sake, improving our health something strange started to happen. People started to take our photo, then the TV news person below started to film us just standing their drinking sake.Then this TV person started to film us.This is when we realized we were the only foreign people at the festival, maybe even it 500 year history. The second TV company actually had an on the spot reporter who when that guy started filming, she turned to us, looked for a second and said in English "do you like the sake?" Looking back at her, we both nod our head in agreement. Then she asked, "can you say that in Japanese?" while pointing to the camera. So, I made my best effort. She gave us her card and I think they might post the interview on the internet. I will have to figure that out tomorrow.