See?

Told you, I'm FAMOUS. Ha.

Now onto more important and interesting things...

The Hakata Gion Yamakasa is next Tuesday morning. It's one of the most famous festivals in the entire country. It starts at 4:59 am (yes, am), and men participate by wearing loin cloths and carrying these specially built shrine/float things around Fukuoka on a predetermined "race track." There are 7 districts in Fukuoka, so there is a shrine for each of them, and the participants compete. It isn't a matter of who gets to the finishing area first, but who works the best as a team. These shrines weigh ONE TON. I am still trying to figure out how they do it. Everyone else stands on the sidelines cheering them on and dumping water on them to cool them down. The first picture is MY district's shrine, which I think is the coolest because of the tiger. They are super detailed. The second picture is a different shrine, but it's just to give you an idea how tall these things are...