Samba Carnival In Asakusa (2004-09-01)
Samba Carnival is a big event in Asakusa (
) toward the end
of summer. Each year it draws tens of thousands of people to
watch the parade. KL and I have seen it twice, but we went there
again this past Saturday so I could take pictures to post on my
journal. We arrived in Asakusa ninety minutes before the parade started
hoping to get a good spot but the street was already full of
spectators. We managed to sit on the second row closest to the
parade which is not a bad deal. Temperature dropped drastically
that day to a very cool 23C due to Typhoon 16. Even though it
didn't hit Tokyo directly, it still brought ominous black clouds which
threatened rain the whole day. It did began to drizzle while we
were waiting for the parade to start but the crowd steadfastly held on
to their place and hardly anyone left. Then just ten minutes
before the parade, the rain stopped. What a relief to all those
people with huge and expensive cameras and equipment.
Samba Carnival is basically a parade with floats and people in
costumes dancing away on the streets. What makes it unique is the
South American dance women do and the glittering bikini-like costumes
they wear. Some outfits are nothing more than a couple of nipple
pads and thongs/G-strings. As you can imagine, the front row of
the crowd is predominately male snapping frenziedly whenever such
scantily-clad women pass them. When children or men performers
come along, camera action dies down to zero.
We didn't stay till the end of the festival when rain started again
over half way through the parade. As soon as we got up to leave
those dreamy-eyed men behind, our seats were immediately snapped up by
two new drooling males. Lucky day for them.
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