Pictures from the nightime festivities…

Another crazy day in the life of the people of Noto Peninusla. A long time ago the villagers suffered badly from some kind of plague which they blamed on evil spirits. So ever since, they do this annual ceremony to scare the evil spirits away by violently trying to destroy a small portable shrine with fire, water and smashing it about.

It seems to work since they haven’t suffered since.

I took alot of pictures so here is the first installment covering the early evening while it is still light.

Also there are a lot of these big things being carried along the streets with kids sat in them playing flutes and drums:

A dog dressed for the occasion:

The shrine being toasted and smoked:

Into the harbour with it:

Now turn it over and over:

The men are all 23 or 43 years old.

Haul it out of the water:

Now give it a roasting with the fire:

Turning it over and over smashing it down onto the flames:

Stay tuned for the evening action….

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This is an annual event in the seaside resort of Notojima on the Noto Peninsula. There is a 10km and a half marathon held on the same day. I entered the 10km race for fun. My friend Bruce came along and tried to enter but had to settle for pretenting to be my personal trainer so he had to miss the start and finish areas.

It was raining alot up until just before the start and the race it self turned out to be rain free which was nice. The 10k was over some steep hills so it was tough work. In the end, I finished in a respectable 59 minutes 21 seconds.

Just before the start:

Just after a cold shower at the finish:

The subject of this post is the slogan I created for the NEC Corporation when I worked for them.

In Japan I still see this slogan being used in TV ads. The word “Empowered” didn’t used to be a direct translation to Japanese but I thought it was a good word to match with NEC’s intention to be innovative. Anyway, it won me a trip to Tokyo from the UK to meet the top bosses in the NEC Super Tower. It was a great experience and I still cherish the memory.