Clash of the Titans

As you may or may not know (depending on how good a friend you are), my 24th birthday is fast approaching with the special day being on February 28th. This year, like in years past, I threw a theme-costume party to celebrate. The theme for 2006: “Heroes, Demons, and Deities” or “general mythology.” Perhaps a better term would have been “wild, out of control, booze fest” after experiencing the utter madness that rocked my little inaka town.

I will admit that the punch I made—a mix of fruit juice and vodka I called “ambrosia of the gods”—was rather strong. Thus the 40 or so people surging through the two floors of my apartment were well on their way to feeling divine. My costume and mythological persona for the night was Balder, a Nordic god of justice and wisdom who’s death perpetuates the end of the world (pretty neat, eh?). For all my American-jin buddies, you’ll notice a resemblance between Balder and Green Havoc, but I assure you I’m not recycling costumes—just giving new life to a familiar image.

Here are some pictures from the night:


Me as Balder, a Nordic god, with Pauline and Lisa, two twin Asian-American-Greek goddesses.



Mike as Poseidon and Tomiko as Miyou



Karl as...uh, some guy with really sweet wings.



Ben as Bacchus--could there be a worse combination?



Asei as a little angle. Yes, that is a child at my party.



Kiyoko as a unicorn, Rhoda as the goddess of alcohol, and Tamara as Temptation (bubble wrap was an amazing idea).



Me and Ata, an island goddess who can also be called a "mother goddess" because she's the one who kept it real and made sure my place wasn't destroyed in the immortal revelry.

All in all the night was great and I loved having folks over to Ajimu.

Nagasaki Lantern Festival

A thousand red lanterns glowing like a thousand red suns hung in orderly rows above the throng of people who were flowing through China town in downtown Nagasaki. My elbows, knees, shoulders, and back touched a new person with every step as Ted, Yumiko, and I moved down the street. The three of us had driven from snow-dusted Oita-ken to Nagasaki early that morning to take part in the celebration of the Nagasaki Lantern Festival.

As always, a trip out of the inaka is a refreshing and exciting experience and I was happy to be surrounded by buildings and people. Of course being surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people who put me in the constant state of “jostled” was a little unnerving. Thankfully Japanese people are well behaved in crowds and all the pressing and pushing was polite and mild mannered (except for that one kids who repeatedly hit me in the butt with his stuffed dragon).

Here are some photos to give you an idea of what my weekend in Nagasaki was like.


Nagasaki Port, historical gateway for foreign trade and contact


Yumiko and Ted, my traveling companions. Yumiko was the brains, Ted was the muscle, and I was the one who kept saying "Cool, look at that!"


Parade! Absolutely none of the marchers were smiling during this parade (no idea why everyone was so somber). But the crowd sure did love taking pictures!


Modernity and tradition standing side by side—typical dichotomy in present day Japan.


Roasted pig heads! I have no idea…not even Yumiko knew what this was all about.


Lanterns by night.


Lantern Dragons.


Lantern Dragons 2.