Think Pink

     Nothing makes me feel more at home than bumping into a friend when I venture outside my usual beat. Memorably this first happened at the Silver Pavilion, Kyoto, when a Tokyo acquaintance bellowed my name down the road, and brought shame upon shujin (my husband). This Easter Sunday in Kawasaki, an urban center wedged between Tokyo and Yokohama, in the midst of a jolly mob celebrating the Kanamara Matsuri, I recognized a familiar face. Sumimassen (excuse me!)

     Each week brings a different matsuri (festival), but this one has attracted global notoriety since it openly worships the male genitalia. While the ordinary Shinto festival assumes the somber tone of a Memorial Day Parade, the Kanamara (Steel Phallus) procession combined St Patrick's Day with Halloween in Greenwich Village: American soldiers from the nearby base provided the former, while gay geishas shouldering a 10 foot tall hot pink penis on a portable shrine (mikoshi) provided the latter. In the days of Edo prostitutes traveled to this shrine to ward off disease; nowadays the shrine raises money for HIV research and promotes fertility (judging by the number of young mums carrying papooses). 

     With many revelers (including children) sucking on penis-shaped lollies, where to buy this souvenir? Hot pink ones were available from stalls (Y 500) along the way to Kawasaki Daishi, the 900 year old Buddhist temple that is the crown jewel of this suburb of Kawasaki. Pilgrims travel from around the country to pay their respects to Kobo Daishi, the ascetic who brought the teachings of Buddha to Japan. A compound of more than 20 buildings the temple dedicated to this holy figure made a stark contrast to the day's events. 

     En route to the train station, a stop at the Steel Phallus shrine meant entering the scrum to buy an orange plaster cast penis lolly from a lone vendor in a bamboo shack. While Tokyoites queue up even when waiting for the subway, here it was each man for himself as the crowd threatened to knock down the shack. A quick glance confirmed that this mainly gaijin (foreign)crowd was shelling out Y 600 a pop. Souvenirs safely packed, on the JR (Japan Rail) platform it was back to "manner mode" as the train zipped past avenues of cherry blossoms and headed to the serene streets of Tokyo.