Fish Out of Water

The Grand Parade of the 41st Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival took place on Sunday, April 20, 2008. The parade began beating its thundering drums at 1 p.m., in front of the San Francisco Civic Center, on Polk Street. It then proceeded up Polk Street to Post Street, where it turned left, headed toward Japantown.
The procession was a myriad of people.
My mother and I sat in front of a business on Polk Street and watched in amusement. Among the procession were: Japanese performers, of all ages, dancing their way past us wearing bright-multicolored cultural costumes. Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops from a Buddhist temple marching by, fully dressed in uniforms, carrying banners. A large boat filled with young children floated by us playing what I would call, Japanese lullaby tunes. There were crowned queens and princesses, on floats and driven in fancy cars. And when the group of Anime fans walked past us I could not help to look at my mom and start laughing. They were in full costume, resembling their favorite Anime characters, and in full enthusiasm. My favorite had to be the man dressed like some sort of hairy spider thing. It was definitely an unexpected crowed.
We found the drums most entertaining. On two different floats there was drumming. On one float the drummers were girls and on the other they were older women. The intensity was amazing. It sounded something like: Boom…Boom, Boom, Boom…Boom, Boom, Aiiigh! There was one leader on each of the floats that, after each drum was beaten, would yell indicating it was time to beat the drums again.
After watching the parade for a while we walked about 20 minutes, alongside the procession, to Japantown. There were hundreds of people lining the streets of Japantown watching the parade. We made our way into one of the Japantown shopping malls, and into a small restaurant. We were sat within a matter of seconds, and as soon as we sat down we were poured hot tea. Both of us looked at the menu of pictures and tried to tell the waiter what we wanted, without chopping up the Japanese too much. The food was delicious and filling, exactly what we needed after a long walk.
When we were finished eating, we went back outside, where we found the last show of the parade. A man, wearing nothing but a loincloth, was on a temple-like float being held in the sky by a large group of people. The man was holding onto a rope that was his only security from falling, as the crowd underneath began to bounce up and down. Everyone was yelling and cheering. Though I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on at that point, I read on the Northern California Cherry Blossom Festival Web Site, that it is called a Taru Mikoshi and is hoisted by over one hundred strong individuals.
The Web Site also states, “it is a spectacle not to be missed,” and I agree. The parade was something new and unfamiliar to me, but it was entertaining and the food was scrumptious. I want to go back again next year.

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