Sometimes serendipity is retrofitted onto an event post-hoc, but sometimes it's undeniable in the moment. The Kunchi festival features a moving shrine on wheels pushed along the streets by a team of young men, filled with children playing synchronized percussion. They stop at local businesses and chant blessings at them, to the delight of the business owners who stand at the front door beaming. A walking procession follows along chanting. We were about to give up our search for the festival when we found them taking a pit stop on a small street. As we stand there waiting for it to pick up again, a young boy starts chatting with us. He's wearing full festival garb. His name is Riku and he's going to play the big drum in the shrine when it's his turn. Subarashii! We encourage him. An older gentleman joins the conversation and eventually hands us red headbands, which seem to be reserved for members of the procession. We wear the very proudly and follow the procession for a good while, getting tons of looks and laughs and conversations from onlookers. We're foreigners taking part in a very special local cultural event! In the commercial district we get stopped by multiple photographers and even a television newscaster (!!). Eventually we split off to find food. We go to an upscale looking, very Japanese restaurant, and the waiter promptly tells us that they have no seats. But we can see inside and... yeah he's probably lying. It's ok - if he is, a little discrimination can balance out today's good karma. Eventually we rejoin the festival for a little bit, then split off near the end to a grocery store. On our way out we run into Riku-san!! No way! He's with his mom and little brother and a friend. We chat for a good while. His mom is very nice, and his little brother is a clown. He smells my clothes and scrunches his face comically and says "kusai!!" (stinky!!) What a little shit. I do it right back to him and he laughs his lil head off. This trip has been chock full of extremely fun random encounters. We head back home to watch the last two episodes of Samurai Champloo and get ready for the flight back.

we got caught in the rain and sheltered beneath a bridge - incredible timing

bruh

"all the cute boys go to Tokyo and all the cute girls go to Fukuoka"

Hiroshima was awesome, but a bit frustrating because I've been feeling sick. Had to skip out on one of the planned activities in favor of a nap. Okonomiyaki is probably my favorite meal so far. They prepare it right in front of you - the presentation is half the fun! On our way to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial we ran into what might be my favorite street music encounter ever. A fingerstyle guitarist and a harpist were teaming up and absolutely lighting the street up. We chatted about all the artists we both know, and he let me share a few of my tunes on his guitar. Then they wrapped up with Wing by Kotaro Oshio, and I lost my shit. The Hiroshoma Peace Memorial is the repaired ruins of the old city hall, which miraculously survived (in tatters, of course) despite being directly below the nuclear explosion. It's sobering and beautiful. We're heading to Nagasaki now, and I'm making a stop at Fukuoka to see my cousin Lucas.

We stumbled upon some Bon Odori (Japanese summer dancing) and the entertainers loved having some very engaged Gaijin around

absolutely insane night archery, arcade, Oktoberfest, red light district, meeting Russians Germans Japanese at a bar

Osaka bound bullet train

moe moe kira kira doki doki banzai type shit

the horniest part of town

dude I just watched the seats on this train spin 180 degrees before we boarded, presumably so the passengers can face the direction of travel