The ninth annual Domatsuri (officially, Nippon Domannaka Matsuri, or にっぽんど真ん中祭り in Japanese) was held on the 25th and 26th of August. Luckily, as with the last Domatsuri I went to, the weather was beautiful. The sun was a little harsh for taking pictures, but it was a clear day with a few beautiful clouds scattered here and there. The only problem was that it was hot. Like really, really hot. So hot it will give you a heat stroke just looking at it from your air conditioned car. Not to mention that I had just returned from Alaska the day before, where it was more like 60F or less there. Nonetheless, I was determined to get some good shots, and with the extra help from Japanzine, from whom I was able to get a press pass, I missed out on being blocked by big heads and the millions of old guys with huge, $5,000+ lenses. The press pass gave me access to anywhere I wanted to go, with the exception of a few time periods in which they were filming for T.V. or whatnot.

The first day I was still recovering from jet lag, so I slept late and arrived in Sakae where the parade was being held around 1:30 p.m. Luckily, I managed to miss most of the more intense midday heat, but I was still sweating like a pig. I made my way to the press trailer thing and got my press packet and press vest, after-which I went over to the street where the parade was going on. Even having the press pass, I was a little hesitant to just jump in and start shooting, and I wasn’t really sure where the off-limits areas were. After a few minutes though, I noticed a group of photographers shooting away in the middle of the road so I leapt over the fence to join them. It’s amazing what a feeling of power you get having that pass and gloating at the thousands of people lining the road who have to watch from behind a guarded line. That was pretty much it for the first day.

The second day I got there around 10:00 a.m., not realizing that the parade, the only thing I really cared about seeing, did not start until around 12:00. It was even hotter than the day before, and I was soaked the minute I got out of the station. I moseyed on over to the stage where they were introducing the groups, but it wasn’t that interesting, and the sun was right on that location. I was just glad I wasn’t dancing. Another thing that kind of turned me off of the stage performances, was that me and a few other press photographers were shooting away, and a staff member told us that we couldn’t stand up, even though nobody was saying anything to the other photographers on the other side of the stage. One of the other official Domatsuri photographers waved me over and saved me a place in the front where we could sit down. One of the other guys he was with came over, and the photographer who i had been next to told him about what had happened. He said 「嘘！厳しいなあ！」 which means, “No way! That’s strict, huh!” After getting sick of shooting in a corner and having to crouch, I decided to walk around while waiting for the parade to start. When the parade started, I went back where the other photographers had been shooting the day before and was pleased to find that I was the only one there. Unfortunately, the lighting was quite harsh (I’m assuming that’s why none of the other photographers were out shooting yet), so I decided to take a lunch break and treated myself to some bean burritos from Jerry’s Uno. After digesting my food and resting a bit, I made my way back, and by that time the light was starting to work in my favor a little bit more. Or, at least it wasn’t blasting everyone until they looked nuclear in my photos. When I tried jumping over the gate, a guard standing about 20 feet away stopped me and said, “No! No!” and crossed his fingers. I pointed to my bright yellow PRESS vest, that was startlingly obvious against my dark green t-shirt, and still he kept making an “X” with his fingers. I pointed again, thinking “Duh!!!” and finally he looked at the vest with shock and said, “Oh, OK.” I guess he just never would have expected for a foreigner to have a press pass. It should have been funny. These types of things usually are for me. It wasn’t a big deal, and I probably would have done the same thing if I had been in his place, but I found that it kind of ground on my nerves a bit for some reason. I have to admit that by the end, I was relieved that it was finally over. I thought about staying for the evening final dance competition, but it was way too hot. I’m glad I left when I did, because I was still recovering from heat exhaustion for a few days after that. And that’s how Domatsuri was.

Here are my five favorites. The rest are on Flickr if you want to see them. Just follow the link at the bottom of the page.

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