Today there were all kinds of festivals happening. Not sure why. Hiroshi and I stopped in Meguro (next station) to have sushi for lunch and there was an extremely energetic group of people "shouldering a mikoshi" (will elaborate on this phrase in a minute). A mikoshi is a portable shrine on horizontal poles. They are quite heavy, and usually have 20-50 people carrying it. Well, the group today was taking it up the steps into the station! I couldn't believe it. They barely cleared the entrance (mikoshi are quite high), all the while shouting and whistling. It was very bizarre. Usually they just walk down the street! Couldn't get near them with my camera though - every Japanese person in sight was trying to photograph it. See, it really was a bizarre occurrence.

Anyway, the "shouldering a mikoshi" phrase. On the Yamanote line (the line that circles Tokyo) there are TV monitors that show ads and stuff. One of the things they have is the English phrases lesson. Basically it shows a Japanese phrase and then will tell you the English equivalent. This is quite amusing sometimes because the English is wrong! LOL My co-worker Cal and I both believe the phrase "shouldering a mikoshi" to somehow be wrong, although technically correct. It just sounds weird.