Emperor’s Birthday
Comments: 3
Tomorrow is the emperor’s birthday (and I didn’t get him anything). It’s a national holiday and, by the look of it, quite a few people will be spending it queueing to get into the palace grounds. In the course of a job today I walked up by the Nijubashi bridge — the ceremonial entrance to the palace — and the forecourt was just filled with traffic cones intended to show people where they can and can’t stand tomorrow.
Self-defense force personnel were busy arranging the cones and the ropes and the single metal detector through which all will pass (so typically Japanese: 20 million traffic cones and one metal detector). The cones were like a conceptual art installation and literally streched for as far as the eye could see. I feel confident promising you that the palace forecourt will be an absolute zoo tomorrow and certainly best avoided.
•••
Posted to General Rants • 2003.12.22 (Mon) • 23:50
Comments
Posted by Rich 2003.12.23, 00:22
Lets hope no drunken students turn up or them cones ain’t gonna last long :-)
Posted by Kristen 2003.12.23, 00:55
I visited at the New Year a few years back and it wasn’t too much of a zoo. The Boy Scouts handed out little paper flags as we were being frisked (no metal detectors back then) and then we meandered quite briskly through the cones to the big court inside the palace grounds where we waited for Emperor and his family to appear and wave from behind their bullet-proof window.
Mayeb its different on his birthday, but I quite enjoyed shouting Banzai! to the Emperor and waving my flag. But I won’t be in attendance tomorrow, I have plans for a big lamb roast feast for His Imperial Birthday.
Posted by Boring Gary 2003.12.24, 09:17
My mother-in-law went along and waved a flag. She is now the envy of the rest of the family in Tokushima.
Post a comment:
Send This Story to an Enemy
• • •
