Went to a tug of war this weekend. It's an annual event here in Japan. This rope is in the guiness book of world records. The thing weighs about 7 tons. Tens of thousands of people show up for this event. It was pretty neat. Afterwards there is a huge beer fest that's about a 10 minute walk from the tug of war. The rope is so big that it can't be lifted, and people are walking up on top of it. There are smaller ropes that branch off the sides of the main rope, like handels, and that is what you tug. Everyone just grabs the side ropes and starts pullin. Here's a few pics!

Me and my boi Thomas standing on it

This is the knot in the middle that you try to pull to your side to win.

These kids start making a bunch of noise and cheer you on to motivate your side to pull harder!

This gold ball blows open and a bunch of balloons and shit come flying out right before the event starts. We got 1 balloon, but later gave it away to this cute lil like 2 year old kid who came up to us with open arms and a big smile wanting it. You couldn't tell the lil guy no, he was cute!

Here's the kid

Of course my side won!!

we got to cut off some of the rope to keep as a suvineir, but i left it in the trunk of the taxi. whoops.

some random cute japanese girls that started dancin on the rope after we won.

some more cute japanese kids that helped us win with their pure muscle mass!!

thomas's trophy for winning!!

and here is my trophy. Good ol Jun! Actually her whole name is Junko Miagi. That's right, she's Ms. Miagi, I hope to god I never meet her dad Mr. Miagi, he'd tear me up!!!

OK last picture I promise. This is just a pick of a car we were behind on the way there. They have some wierd names for cars here. That right there is the Dhaitsu NAKED!!

Wow, Japanese people are weird. Honestly, who thinks "Hey, we should have this enormous tug-of-war competition with a rope that weighs thousands of pounds! Now that's a good idea! :stick:

But hey, bring me home one of those naked vans! Quality stuff. :lol:

It has some sort of tradition behind it. Something to do with the battle of the samurai's before they were killed off I think. In the opening ceremony, some people dressed up like samurai's meet at the center of the rope and do a little act, and then the gold ball blows off and the tugging begins. You may think it's weird, but it was really cool and a tradition of theirs based off something in their history.

But hey, running up and down a wooden floor throwing balls in to baskets hanging off poles is a great idea :secret: I think the Japanese culture is really interesting, I also like there big penis parade!

You are one sick individual, Mr. Hughes!! :ohmy:

Didnt someone get maimed in that event a few years ago? Like lost an arm or something?

They do have a parade/festival basically worshiping the penis! I saw a show about it on the Discovery Channel or or National Geographic channel. It was actually quite interesting, they had parade floats, lolli-pops, etc. all in the shape of a penis.

i wouldn't be telling everyone on an open forum about how much you like the penis parade hughes ;)