Phallic fun... and my parents (creepiest title ever!)

This past Sunday was highlighted by two very exciting events: Kanamara Matsuri, more commonly known as the Iron Penis Festival, and the arrival of my parents at Narita Airport. At this point I'm sure you're all very curious about the first event and if you're not, well, you should be because it was the coolest festival I have ever attended! Warning: It's important that you have an open mind and a sense of humor while reading about this (and looking at the pictures) because clearly it's a little... different. The penis festival is held at a penis-venerating shrine in Kawasaki where prostitutes used to go to pray for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Now people go there not only to pray for protection against std's but also for fertility and the money raised during the festival is used to raise money for HIV research. Every April the local transvestites sponsor this ridiculous festival during which people ride wooden seesaw like penises, carve turnip penises, eat lollipop penises, and parade gigantic penises down the street. There was a huge pink one that was at least 6 feet tall and a very revered black penis that was at least 5 feet tall and extremely heavy because it was made of stone or metal and carried on a giant wooden boat like construction. I went to the festival with Jenn and some other friends and while we were there Jenn and I decided to buy the 6 inch brown sugar lollipops. I have never felt more popular, actually, more like a celebrity, in my life! EVERYONE was taking pictures of us eating our lollipops, there must literally be hundreds if not thousands of photos of us now floating in both real and cyber-world, in all of which Jen and I are posing over these gigantic candy penises! People actually came up to us and asked if they could take a picture WITH us. We also got interviewed by a guy from CBCN (Canadian News), so there is a possibility that I was on a bunch of Canadian televisions waving around a huge brown penis pop. The whole thing was just so funny and amusing and unique that we sort of forgot to be creeped out and instead just let our inhibitions go and had a good time.

After the phallic fun was over I headed to the airport to pick up my parents who were arriving that evening. Clearly I was very happy to see them and they were thrilled to see me. Schlepping to my apartment from the airport was not quite so thrilling, but we stopped in between and ate lots of meat at Gyukaku, so my parents' first Japanese meal was definitely a good one. We spent Monday and Tuesday traveling all over Tokyo to places that I've written about previously in my blog. We went to Ueno to see the cherry blossoms, but unfortunately they were pretty much all gone due to the rain from the night before. We also went to Akiba so that my parents could experience a maid cafe, and it was once again a strange experience. I took them to Harajuku and Shibuya which would have been a little more pleasant if it hadn't been raining the entire time, but they still seemed to enjoy themselves. We finished off the night with karaoke in Shibuya. I'm not going to lie, it was a little weird going to a karaoke room with my parents, but we all had a good time, actually my parents had a great time, they both asked if we could do karaoke again when they return from their tour next week. I am slightly relieved that next week when they return they will both be staying in a hotel, rather than on the floor of my apartment. It was great seeing them, but it was just so cramped and messy with the three of us living in my tiny little room that I was going nuts. I think I've become rather used to living on my own so it was kind of weird having my parents around constantly, but they were so grateful to have me to show them around. They were really happy that I was able to take them to some places that weren't really recommended in the tour books (like Gyukaku, the best ramen shop ever in Shibuya, and sketchy maid cafes on the back streets of Akiba). Next week I plan to take them to Yokohama and to my local supermarket in addition to other places that have not yet been decided. For now I am going to get ready for work and hope that the sore throat/head cold I have developed over the last couple of days goes away, because it is important to be able to speak in my particular profession and currently my voice is sounding a little frog like.