Dancers and Characters at the Hamahiga (綱引き) Tug-O-War

Tug-O-Wars are Held Everywhere in Okinawa

 

 Last night, on Hamahiga Island we witnessed the usual Ryukyu style tug-o-war.

Except for the size of the rope used, they are all pretty much the same.

Some challenges are made, before the ends of the ropes are looped together.

Teams from the east side of town pull against those from the west.

What made this one different, was the people we met along the way.

Young gals who were proud of making themselves look like old hags.

There was a little guy making believe he was the village idiot.

Not sure if this was a man or, woman, I kept my distance.

They were, all friendly people and didn't mind the camera, being pointed their way.

This gal was so proud of her blackened tooth, I had to take a second photo of her.

People were decked-out in all kinds of bright colors and dancing in the streets.

This sweetheart was heading into her house by the time I caught-up with her.

But, she ran back out the gate so I could take her picture, dancing outside the yard.

The gal on the far left had some huge Dolly Parton-looking boobs on earlier.

She kept apologizing because they disappeared, somewhere along the way.

So, I told her not to worry.  I don't have any boobs, either.

That got them all laughing.

Somebody told me one of those characters was Michael Jackson.  I'd have never guessed.

Late in the evening, way after the tug-o-war, formal dances took place.

Some of these same gals might have been characters, earlier.

Face recognition, is something I must have been born without.

 That means, I'll probably never get hired by the FBI.

Seeing all the costumes and, watching the dances, was more fun than the tug-o-war.

The tsunahiki (綱引き) is an annual tradition in many villages throughout Okinawa.

They are held in the belief it will be a prosperous year for crops and good health.

The people of Hamahiga just, know how to do it in style !

Travel Photo: Could Use Some Help--Need ID on Gal

Getting Up There in Age

 

Not that I'm getting old or, anything like that.

Sometimes, I just forget little things.

Like, I promised this gal, I'd send her a photo if she consented to me taking her picture.

Now, I made a nice print and can't remember her name or, address.

They have some government people who watch Facebook all the time.  Don't they ? 

I reckon, they might know who she is.

Or, do you think they are too busy watching ships go through the Panama Canal ?

Anyway, I'll post this over on Facebook and see what my friends can do.

Give me a holler, anytime, if you can ID her.  OK ?

Sports Photo: The Gal with the Baton

 

This just happens to be one of my favorite photos from the past week.

It was taken at an Undokai (Sports Day) in Okinawa, Japan.

The baton was just passed in a family relay race.

Normally, I wouldn't post a gal's picture here without her consent.

But, I'll stick my neck out, hoping I can get her to sign a model release.

That way she can get a free print from me, probably framed, too.

If she squawks, I'll  just take this photo down and replace it with another gal's.

Like, that girl who gets away with murder.

Visit my website for today's Feature Photo

Before and After (Photos) 2d Annual Trip to the Barbershop

BEFORE

AFTER

Today's photos were taken by a Guest Photographer, Ryukyu Rusty.

This would be my 2d annual trip to the barbershop because I believe in energy conservation.

So, I get my hair and beard trimmed, only once a year, whether I need it or not.

That helps keep the electric bill down and I save a few bucks on shaving stuff.

It keeps young girls from running up trying to smooch on me but, that ain't the only reason for

the Grizzly Adams lookin' beard.

See, I play Santa Claus every year and don't want to wear one of those fake beards.

So, I grow my own.

The downside to having a beard that long is, it gets tangled up in my tripod sometimes when I'm shooting on a windy day.  And, plenty of times throughout the year, I get my whiskers stuck when someone closes their electric windows while I'm hanging out sniffing the countryside.

Used to be, I would cut and trim the beard every year after the Santa Claus gigs were done and the Missus would cut my hair.  But she always gets carried away and was clipping all the fur off my back.  So, she ain't my barber no more.  The fur is on my back for a reason and  think I it should stay there.  So, I found a professional barber lady.  One who listens to me.  Hah !

Last year, Ryukyu Rusty and I found this barber who let us set up tripods and cameras and shoot the whole process of getting a haircut in a Japanese barbershop.

Well, everybody was a little nervous, I guess.  Especially me.  I went through two hours or more sitting in that chair.  You get cut, snipped, dunked, scraped, spun around, shampooed, rinsed, lathered, hot and cold toweled and, I can't remember all the whatnots done.

When it was time for the AFTER photo all I wanted to do was get out of the barber chair and run.

We were in such a rush to get out of there, we didn't notice the DELUXE LOOKS thingy I was wrapped in was on backwards when we took the second photo.

Yesterday, we dunnit right.

We got the gal to do the 2d annual haircut and beard trimming on a day the barbershop was supposed to be closed.

Then, we set up a tripod and camera and took the BEFORE shot.

All we had to do was remember not to move anything and make sure the drape, or whatever you call those things, was positioned the same way for the AFTER photo.

The dunking, shampooing and conditioning,  I told the gal save that for somebody else.

I just wanted a trim so we could get out of there with our BEFORE and AFTER.

All was going well.

The only thing that could have kept us from having the exact same position on the camera frame would be if someone moved the tripod or the camera lens.

One time, the gal spinned the chair around and I looked over to see what Rusty was doing.

Rusty and the camera were gone.

A green bird flew by across the highway.

RUSTY RAN OUT WITH MY CAMERA AND TRIPOD TO SHOOT IT !

WTF (Wed/Thu/Fri) ain't that what it means ?

Here I was on my 2d annual trip to the barbershop to get the exact same BEFORE and AFTER pictures taken and the photographer runs out the door with my camera to shoot a green bird !

Can't blame the guy.  I'd have done the same thing.

It can't be helped.  We're rednecks.  Wildlife is more important.  Ya know ?

Rusty and I are real good friends. 

He even wants me to be the photographer at his wedding.

It's going to be outdoors, too.

Be best if no green birds fly by.

Dontcha think ?

MORE REDNECK STUFF HERE

Photo of the Day: The Dragon of Ogimi Okinawa, Japan

Here is one of a few hundred photos taken in the Village of Ogimi over the past 24 hours.  There will be many more colorful pictures to show as quickly as I can get them developed.

There are plenty of stories coming out of this trip and a few mysteries remain unsolved at the festival called Unjami ( Ungami to some) especially concerning women.  Imagine that.

One of the mysteries that popped up today was this girl from Romania.  That's right.  A gal shows up at this remote festival in the middle of nowhere Okinawa, Japan and says she's from Romania.  She's been following this blog for a year and I just found out today.  How's that for a small world ?

Well I got busy shooting dragons, dragonboats, races and women dancing, drinking and beating drums then, jumping in the ocean and cheering on their dragonboat teams.  I was so busy I forgot to ask the girl from Romania if I could print her name on this blog.  So, I won't until she says it's OK.

Right now I'm headed out the door to go recharge my batteries and the camera's batteries, too.

VISIT MY HOMEPAGE FOR THE PHOTO OF THE DAY

Photo Essay: Brilliant Colors at Tanabata Festival in Okinawa

Riding around on the southern end of Okinawa, Japan today I looked out my window as Doc Graff of ISLAND PEOPLE PORTRAITS FAME was negotiating the curves and spotted these bright colored things hanging from trees.  I don't think he saw them.  So, I yelled out, "What the Frapachino was that"?  

Er, it was something along those lines to get his attention off the highway.

We made a couple of u-turns to get a closer look and some people who had just arrived and parked their cars invited us on in to take some photos. They mentioned that it was "Tanabata".

Some of my brain cells recognized the word Tanabata but, I wasn't sure what it meant.  I didn't want to crash somebody's funeral, wedding, childbirth or 50th anniversary party with my camera so, I looked the word up in my cell phone dictionary.  It's some sort of Star Festival.  Now, I remember.

Look at the decorations hanging from the trees.  There could be a thousand of them covering acres of land.

There were paper chains, cranes, stars,  gift-wrapped boxes, streamers and DVDs hanging from the trees!

This is the kind of stuff I love taking photos of even if the sun is burning the highlights out of the pictures and the wind won't let anything stand still.  I was having a blast and forgot Doc was with me, somewhere.

He had wandered up to the house of this private property we were on and met the gal who made all these decorations.  One Okinawan gal did it all by herself and she's been hanging these brilliant, handmade decorations in her yard for over twenty years.  What a sweetheart !

In Japan it's not rude to ask someone their age.  When  I asked she (ahem) was a bit senior to me.  So, when she asked my age (ahum) I lied and told her I'm 89.  That's just to seem polite.

She was a doll.  Even went in her house and brought out some huge glasses of iced coffee for Doc and I. 

I would have hugged her but, I was sweating like a pig and smelled a lot worse.

There are all sorts of versions on the history of Tanabata.  It is celebrated in China and Japan under different titles.  I won't stick my neck out and pretend to be an expert on the subject. 

I just know it has something to do with the Milky Way, stars and some guy and gal lovers who only get a chance to visit each other on the seventh day of the seventh month every year.

We chatted awhile and got all the gals at the house laughing, thanked them for everything and headed back up north.  But, the gal who made all these brilliant colored decorations for Tanabata invited us to come back again.  So, next year when I (ahem) turn 90, I think I may visit for another glass of iced coffee and shoot some more photos.

More about Tanabata may be seen at:

MUZA-CHAN'S GATE TO JAPAN

WIKIPEDIA ORG

Year of the Rabbit 2011 (Photo) Okinawa: An Insider's Tip

Here it is, New Years Eve, where I'm at anyway. I guarantee in the next few days I'll get tons of emails wishing me a Happy New Year. I know because I do the same thing as soon as Christmas is over. I start telling everybody to have a Happy and Prosperous New Year, right on through the first week of January. We all do it and it's a good thing. It sure beats talking about the weather.

The Year of the Rabbit is 2011 so, I dug up this photo that I shot back in 2007 to show you what a rabbit looks like in the wild, at night, with camera flash. That's if you don't want to use red-eye reduction on your camera or in editing afterwards. Some people I know will have eyes like this when the wake up New Years Day after a night of celebrating. In Okinawa, we have New Years twice!

The Western, Gregorian, Christian, whatever you want to call it, calendar that a lot of the rest of the world uses, is used in Japan, too. Even in Okinawa we have the Western calendar and celebrate the New Year like folks in the western world. The New Year will start January 1st and people will be popping champagne bottles, kissing strangers on the lips and singing Auld Lang Syne in Japanese in my bar tonight. And they'll be running around with hangovers for the next three days visiting temples to try and have good luck in the Year of the Rabbit, 2011.

It's good for business. People are already buying rabbit jewelry, bunny footed pajamas and slippers and probably wedding gowns with rabbits sewed on them. Some of them even buy pet rabbits for their kids. Then, when they get tired of abusing them, turn them loose, like the one in the photo above. That's no wild rabbit. He's a rabbit turned loose in the wild; a feral rabbit, I guess.

Here's a tip from an old Insider. According to the Chinese Zodiac, 2010 the Year of the Tiger, doesn't end December 31st 2010. The Year of the Rabbit starts on February 3, 2011.  That'd make New Years Eve the 2d of February according to my calculations.

Not one to put a damper on everyone's holiday celabrations I'm going to dig up that Auld Lang Syne music, buy some bottles of champagne and wash the wine glasses for tonight.

What the heck, I may as well trim the beard, get all spruced up and wear my Sunday best for the New Years Party. Even if some good lookin' stranger-gal doesn't run up and kiss me on the lips, it could be my dressed rehersal for the 2011 Year of the Rabbit New Years Eve Party in February!

WHEREVER IN THE WORLD YOU ARE PLEASE DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE.  AND, I WISH YOU AND YOURS A SAFE, HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR !



RELATED LINK: 2011 THE YEAR OF THE PARTY RABBITS