Instead of going to work today, I went to Kyoto with a team member for the Gion Matsuri, month long festival (most famous they told me in Japan)! Today was the parade of hoko's and yama's. Wikipedia says "The floats in the Yoiyama Parade are divided into two groups, Hoko and Yama, and are collectively called Yamaboko (or Yamahoko). There are 9 of the larger Hoko (long pole or halberd) which represent the 66 spears used in the original purification ritual, and 23 of the smaller Yama which carry life-size figures of famous and important people. All the floats are decorated with beautiful tapestries both from Nishijin (the finest in all of Japan) and imported from all over the world. In addition to the art, there are many traditional musicians and artists sitting in the floats." Anyway, the video is of my company's hoko. They are turning it at a corner here. One of the people in my research team is pulling on the right."
I walked around with two new employees to Omron, and we followed our hoko around most of the time, so I didn't get to see some of the other floats. But it was really fun and we waved and made faces at our people and gave them water. The parade lasts for almost five hours, and they are pulling most of that time! It was really awesome.
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