2011 Dragonboat Festival Naha Okinawa, Japan (Photos)

Dragonboats from Thursday's Festival in Naha Okinawa, Japan are keeping me busy this week.
  Here are a dozen photos that will have to speak for themselves.  Holler if you recognize anyone.

Judging by their hairstyles, I'd say these may be US Marines.

These folks, wearing traditional headgear probably, are permanent residents.

Not sure, here.  Maybe the blue shirts are US Air Force.

             Here are the three Dragonbaots, yellow, black and green racing across the harbor.


              For a cameraman it doesn't matter who wins or looses.  All that matters is the light.


                                      Now these guys, I'm fairly certain are US Navy dudes.

 It sure would be nice if all boats were people powered and folks would stop polluting the ocean.

     Those safety boats should stay out of my picture frames.  What'd they think?  A sailor can't swim!


    Next time I do the Naha Dragonboat Festival, I'm thinking I'll bring along an innertube and hop-in.


                                          Down low is where you can catch the best scenes.


           The very last race is a big event.  These guys holler-out chants to the gods of the seas.


There's really no such thing as a winner or looser.  It's making the sea gods happy that really counts.

If you are US Navy, Army, Airforce or Marine and were in the Naha Dragonboat Races, I salute you.


If they put "Dragonboat" in the subject, I'll take it out of my junk mail.

Do you know how much money those guys make?

Well,  I do.

They made enough, while you were paddling,  to order a photo for everyone of you and give it to you FREE for being a great Ambassador representing the USA in Japan.

At this point, I'm halfway through developing the photos from the May 5, 2011 Dragonboat Festival. 

I decided to create a new photo gallery, just for DRAGONBOATS ON MY WEBSITE and, as time permits, will continue adding photos of all the Dragonboat Races on the island of Okinawa.

Typhoon Chaba, Green Eggs & Ham

HERE'S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE AT ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA











FIRST WE'LL GET THE PICTURES I BORROWED OUT OF THE WAY. I'LL GET TO THE GREEN EGGS AND HAM PART A LITTLE BIT LATER. FOR SOME STRANGE REASON THESE TYPHOONS ALWAYS LOOK LOTS BETTER FROM ABOVE THAN BELOW.
 
 

HERE'S EARTH OBSERVATORY NASA GOVT NATURAL HAZZARDS VIEW

It’s going on Midnight Thursday over here right now and I think the worst of it is over. I only went outside a few times to get coffee, smokes and food.

When I walked here this morning I used my big golf umbrella. The wind was turning it inside out so I decided to close it and just get wet.

Around 3PM when I went to grab some take-out lunch it was raining real hard and real windy so I borrowed a smaller umbrella. It held up pretty good until I turned the corner of the street and got a good blast of wind. That bent a few spokes.

Coming back with my Taco-Rice-Cheese in a plastic bag and the open umbrella was hilarious. I’m glad the wind and I were both heading in the same direction. The Flying Nun ain’t got nuthin on me.

Now, I owe somebody a new umbrella. I hope it wasn’t the wife’s. Her birthday isn’t until September.

This looks like it may have been the strongest typhoon we’ve had hit Okinawa in a few years. I remember awhile back one that was so strong it snapped concrete telephone poles. The winds were something like 120mph. One of the poles landed right on the hood of a police car.

Being cooped up on rainy days really drives me crazy. But, I took a long nap this afternoon and drank about a dozen cans of ice coffee and my electricity hasn’t been knocked out, yet. So, I guess I’m good to go.

I’m done complaining and might even be over the non-writing slump I was having all week. Maybe, the typhoon was just what I needed. Whenever a good butt-kickin’ typhoon hits I remember how lucky I am.

See, way back in the early 60’s I was riding around on this big Navy Boat. Maybe 1000 guys on this big grey, flat-bottomed boat and we got caught in one of these typhoons. They could’ve filmed the Poseidon Adventure there if they’d have had a cameraman with us.

Before I ever got on a Navy Boat, I always thought that Dr. Seuss just made up that story about Green Eggs and Ham. He didn’t dream that stuff up; it’s true. Maybe he was in the Navy once. It’s the only place, in my life, where I’ve seen Green Eggs. I don’t know where they come from, out of a can, maybe.

Anyway, picture about 1000 guys in a room inside a boat carrying Green Eggs and Ham on metal trays and walking around on a metal floor. Then start rocking the boat enough to make them slip, slide and fall down.

Tilt the boat 45 degrees to the left and watch them slide. They scramble to get back on their feet. Tilt the boat 45 degrees to the right. Then you have arms, legs, metal trays, cups of coffee and milk, Green Eggs and Ham, and people cussing and barfing, trying to get back on their feet, so they can eat their Green Eggs and Ham. It doesn’t get much better than that.


TYPHOON CHABA, I'M NOT IMPRESSED. YOU WERE WEAK!