205 posts

seconds ago , 2 Jul 2019 9:04PM

Well Japan has a LOT of festivals.
July 15th is a public holiday for Marine Day
In my home port of Shiogama there is a parade of boats.
The Priests come down from the Shinto shrine, pour some sake over the lead boat and away they go.
I have been invited to join this year.
Quite an honor.
Just have to avoid the drunken fishers.
But the fireworks will be worth it.

gary

How /why the invite? Is it normal to have a westerner and a yacht in the parade?

No I wasn't invited because I was a westerner.

In the past the parade was limited to fishing boats, which were blessed (?) to protect them from typhoons and to bring in a good catch.
The tsunami basically wiped out any fishing boat (and crew) in port at the time.
After that, all of the older fishers (80 years old and over) gave up, so there is a lack of boats now.
They have now opened the parade up for any boat.
It is mayhem, but the fireworks at the end of the day are worth it.

Gary