A form of torture?

Well it was a busy weekend, Saturday was spent mostly rushing round trying to get a million and one things done. Hubby went to a meeting about the land payment, I don't understand all the ins and outs but what it comes down to is that we (and everyone else on this piece of land) have to pay somewhere in the region of 40-50man (three and a half thousand pounds / $4,500) OUCH. So there is some serious tightening of belts going on over here, if you are felling flush, pop over to the shop and have a bit of a spree - every little helps!
So, Sunday, it was Ebi-kuns yochien matsuri (festival), his yochien belongs to a Shinto shrine so they have the mikoshi that are carried in the city festival, this is the main one, a mikoshi is a portable shrine and for the city festival they are usually carried through the city by a bunch a scantly clothed men fuelled by sake.

 This however is the kids version. All the kids wore 'happi' coats of course we got all his gear out and had no idea how to dress him in it, luckily he wasn't the only one with his bells on the wrong way round. I don't have a picture, but before the kids started some of the 'volunteered' moms and dads had to carry a mikoshi around the yard to show the kids how to do it, I was on the mom mikoshi and I can tell you now, that thing is bloody heavy, no wonder they feed the guys sake and beer at the festivals! So, once we had done our bit the kids had to carry theirs, each class has their own.

They had to carry it along the streets down to the community centre, some of the residents came out to cheer them on. Once they got to the community centre there was a water break.

It was a REALLY hot day, it started out overcast but soon the sun was out and the return journey many of the kids had lost their 'umph' I think Ebi-kuns face says it all here! There were plenty of mini rests but it was still hard going. When we got back to the yochien the moms and dads had to do another round with big mikoshi.

Once everyone was watered an rested there was a closing ceremony and the parents helped tidy away all the festival decorations, by this time I was starting to feel a bit queasy, I am fair skinned and don't do well in the sun or heat, standing out in the baking sun for 3 hours doesn't bode well. The kids said they had fun and they all got a present before they left.

 It was lunch time when we finished and Ebi-kun requested sushi so we went to a new kaiten sushi, one of those places where the little plates of sushi go round and round on a conveyor belt, this one was super cool, if you  look at the picture below, top right is a touch screen menu, you go through and order what you fancy, a couple of minutes later the red light flashes and the shinkansen delivery train arrives with your ordered dish, when you have taken off your order you press the red light button to send the train back to the chef. Cool!

Of course we had to keep ordering dishes from the menu lol. By mid afternoon I was feeling terrible and running a fever - sunstroke and burnt skin to boot, and yes, I put on lashings of sun cream, I do not like the summer, grumble, grumble.... Ebi-kun has the day off today and it full of beans whereas I feel like crap and would be happy to go back to bed.