Spirits and Creatures!

So far, this summer has been hot & muggy, cultural, and weeeeird.

Hot & muggy at 90+ degrees with a bajillion percent humidity.. I tell ya, it's just plain "eww" out there) "Black Flag" is what the guys on base are calling this weather. Oh and I hear the worst is still to come! guhreeat.

Cultural because it's Obon Season.

And Weeeird because never in my life have I ever seen so many unusual creepy crawlies in my life! I'll show u some in a little bit....

So, many of (or all) you folks in Hawaii may know about Obon thru the Bon Dances that occur around July-August. Alls I knew about Obon was the dancing-around-a-tower and shrine-visiting to celebrate/remember/ pay respects to people who have passed on. What I got to experience this past friday was a whole 'nother side....

The entire last week was observed as holiday for the Japanee folk. Unfortunately for the japanese nationals who work on base, they dont get these days off (Those who work on base observe american holidays only). During this time, families and friends gather to make a float, (resembling a boat -yay, I rhymed) in honor of a loved one who has passed away this year. They then carry or push these boats on wheels (depending on size) from their homes, parading them to a big park in the middle of the city.

Since this was our first year attending a traditional Obon ceremony/festival. We needed to do it right. We even got off work an hour early so that we could take care of the Gir and Miu matters and not have to rush to get ready. It was a good thing too, cause it took me like a freakin' HOUR to get my yukata on! I even had to watch a instructional youtube video about 10 times to get the obi on right! I was getting pretty frustrated...the ties and folds just weren't staying put!

...All the while, there sat Daniel, (who ready in seconds flat, because all he had to do was throw on a hapi coat) ooh-ing and woah-ing at videos of freedivers spearing uluas! [hmph.]

But when I finally got that yukata on I was stoked! So stoked was I, that I almost didn't care that it was highwater! -Apparently the "One-Size" style comes up a bit short for Magzilla ;)

After a couple pictures, we were off to the Albaqurque Bridge (the bridge that all the americans from base, cross to go into town), to meet a couple of friends. There, they had various food, souvenir booths and even a little buddhist shrine set up forpeople to pray!

[Oh by the way, they even had those plastic rainbow light-up toys! You know what I'm talking about right? The ones they have at the Polynesian Cultural Center or the ones you can get during christmas at Honolulu Hale! ... except over here they had SWORD kine! Ohhhh boy, did Daniel wanted one of those! -but he got over it pretty quick when they told us it was $12.

What we DID buy was a floating lantern to share. We even got to decorate it before we released it into the river. While decorating, I glaced over at a haole guy next to me who wrote a little note on his lantern addressed to his uncle who had passed away. It said something about how he was glad he got to see him before he left for heaven... It made me a little sad -but then a little ashamed for being so nosey and peeking in on this poor guy's personal life! oops. Anywho, after successfully releasing our lantern, and watching it float over to get lost with the other lanterns, I felt an unexpected sense of calm. I may have only lasted a minute or two, but it was definitely there.

After that. we were off to get some food.. we were starving! we ate tako yaki and a banana-choco crepe. We sat and ate near the street where the parade of boat-floats passed by. It was trippy, they only close one lane of traffic for this parade, so cars are going by RIGHT up next to them!

It was a sad but beautiful sight. All these boats. Each one representing a missed loved one. Some even had a picture of the departed. A grandma, a grandpa, a young son :( Some of these boats were HUGE. There was this one young guy's boat that was really cool. His float wasn't a boat at all! It was built to look like a Kawasaki motorcycle! There were pictures of him on the front and back. He was a pretty young too, he didn't look a day over 25. The bunch of guys pushing the float looked about the same age -they must've been his friends... perhaps they're a motocycle gang?

After most of the boats passed us and reached their goal at the park, we decided to head to the park too. What we saw at the park was even more surprising. This big park was filled with SO MANY boats! They were all perfectly lined up for display. Big boats and little boats side-by-side. This is where everyone lit up the rest of their firecrackers. But they werent' popping them one pack at a time, they burned piles at a time! It made my ears hurt a little, but the resulting smoke looked pretty neat -like mini mushroom clouds!

On the opposite side of the park was a big loooog pile of what kinda looked like trash. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that it was a huge mound of offerings! They were fresh-cut flowers wrapped in (what looked like) straw matting, and paper packages full of decorative sugar flowers! I had nothing to give, so I offered my head-flowers thing.

I felt sad but I felt kinda happy too. Sad because I couldn't believe how many people died this year in Sasebo... But happy because I got to see the result of family and friends working together, and a community that really supports it.

After feeling spiritually renewed, we went to our favorite bar and got plastered ;)

Onward to creatures!... now don't get me wrong folks, I am NOT a bug fan, but I feel so compelled to share this witchu guys!

Okay, so it appears that Sasebo+Summer=BUGS! As soon as summer hit, all these crazy bugs came out of the woodwork! I've had bright green stickbugs surprising me at the park (they blend in so well with the grass!). I've seen butterflies of various colors: yellow, white, electric blue, lilac, monarch orange ('cept these were smaller than the ones I've seen back home) and black ones... hmmm maybe those are moths? Yeah, there's lots of different moths too. My favorite one is this guy -which I named Mothra...naturally.

There's a lot of beetles here too. Like BIG ones. Big like the length of your palm! Japanese kids like to have them as pets... but if you don't want to go and catch them yourself, you can buy them at a store for 600-800yen! crazy. Unfortunately, I don't have any photo proof of those :( I even spotted a big reddish-brown one at the park last week but I didn't have my camera. I ran home and got it but it was gone by the time I got back! sneaky buggah. (maybe some kid found it and took it?)

Here's a fun fuzzy worm we saw near a boat harbor.

And right now, it's the season for Semi. These suckers are big, loud and kinda freaky to me. Alas, we have not been brave enough to get close enough to get a good picture of one yet. This website has one on the bottom of the page. It even has a audio sample! Just multiply that by 20 or so, and you'll get the lovely sound we hear out in the park every morning! http://www.timwerx.net/odds/suzumushi/index.htm

There was one lying in the front walkway 3 doors down (hehe) from our apartment. It looked dead. I thought "Oh hey, nows my chance to get a picture of this thing!" how morbid and odd is that?! Anywho, I run home, get my camera and run back -good, it's still there... so then I turn my camera on macro setting -ready to shoot...

...I need a stick or something to flip it over... boo. no stick in sight.

maybe I can blow onnit...

*phoooo*

The friggen thing comes back to life!! Still upside down, it starts spinning furiously and buzzing!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!

FORGET THIS!

I run away.

Later after work, I lead daniel there to take a look at it. It's still there. Still upside down. It's not moving. I hand him the camera. He gives it back and tells me to shoot while he tries to flip it over with his shoe.

We go in closer...

Without warning, the thing starts buzzing and spinning again!

Daniel says [and I quote]: "Woah Shit!"

he leaps up....

laughing, we both run home. ...we're pathetic ;)

the next day da buggah was gone.

Oh! and on a side note, we have also witnessed a large crab crossing the road during our morning commute.

Hope u enjoyed this webisode, stay tuned for the next installment after we get back from Tokyo! We're headed there this Friday to meet Daniel's pops! :)

thanks for readin' me!