Parade!

Sunday we headed down to Osaka to take in the somewhat famous Midosuji Parade which runs through the heart of the city. We figured we haven't witnessed a Japanese parade yet and probably should. For the most part it was what you would expect - marching bands, batons, floats - but there was a much more international flare than I'm used to. Contributions came from neighboring Asian countries but also from as far as Egypt and Bolivia. The American inclusions were (of course) exceptionally lame. The highlight was when around 4pm the parade stopped and formed "stage" areas where the various participants did their things for select crowds. The best was the 6-on-2 kids-versus-professional-soccer-players game.