The picture in the last post actually is a float that is used in the Yamakasa Festival and so rightly belongs in this post but.... whatever. Yamakasa is a festival that is somewhat religious, but not really. I looked it up and found that it "may" have its roots in a ritual that took place in 1241 to stop a bad plague in Hakata, a district of Fukuoka city. Some floats are made for public viewing that can be seen for the two weeks preceeding the festival, but the floats they use on festival day are made seperately. Men dressed in traditional Shimekomi (think "what a sumo wrestler wears" here) carry the floats around a path through Hakata. The floats weigh up to 2,000 pounds. Usually it is around 100 men carrying each. The kicker of the whole thing is that this happens at 5 a.m. They kick off at first light and race, about 14 floats in total. So where will I be this Tuesday morning... wish me luck. In preperation for this there have been a couple of different events taking place near my work during the day. Everyday, there are carnival type stands selling food and carnival type wares to passerbys, and one of the days they a mock float race in which small school boys maybe 5 years old or less were wearing the traditional Shimekomi running around in the streets helping to push the float around. It was quite the spectacle to see 50 5 year old boys in less than diapers running down the street with people throwing water all over them (oh yeah, forgot about that part, everyone watching throws water on the people carrying the streets making it extra slippery. For my Thailand friends, think Sankron.). Anyway, figured I should add that post with the picture.
Take care.
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2 comments:
I'm pretty sure I watched a documentary on this before on the Travel Channel!!!! It looked so neat! I'm jealous...and thanks for the pic. Miss you, sunshine...
I've been like this as I got older.
For me there were two alternating causes.
#1. A little anxiety = thinking about the day ahead, worries, thinking of things I have done or have to do, etc etc etc just a lot of thinking and staying awake.
My cure is plan when I want to go to bed, and go sit in bed half hour before at least and only think of how comfy it is and how awesome sleep is.
#2. Watching TV,looking at the Phone/tablet or being on PC influences my circadian rhythm through light.
The cure has been to stop using those aforementioned devices 1-2 hrs prior to bed time. Staying in complete darkness and emptying my mind works.
Also reading boring books by the ambient light of a not very bright light bulb also knocks me out quickly.
Now if nothing else works then see a doctor, I haven't tried buy I have patients who take benzoate class drugs and it puts them to sleep quickly, these drugs slow you down and are more for curbing the anxiety and thoughts mentioned in step #1.
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