Following the parade and a bite of lunch at McDonald's, it was time to follow the crowd to the location of the giant tug-of-war!!!
Rodney kinda sticks out in the crowd here... ;0)
There is the giant gold ball....when it opens, the tugging begins!!
Our first glimpse of the rope...
Tucked into the crowd with 275,000 of our closest friends!!!
The flags and poles from the parade are making their way to the center for the Opening Ceremony...
Once they are all in place (according to Rodney who could see over the crowd a bit easier than me!), there is basically a 'karate-off'... It seems each prefecture has a representative and they perform their arts....
Finally, when that is done, they connect the two sections of rope....
Once the rope is connected, the king from the East enters...
....and the king from the West....
...and the rope pullers are ready to pull....
...aaaannndddddd they pull!!!!
And the 42nd Annual Naha Tug-of-War is underway!!!!
We were really looking forward to seeing the tug again this year, but after a 2 1/2 hour parade, then standing in that crowd for the HOUR LONG opening ceremony, once the ball opened, we HAD to get outta dodge!!!
But, it was still a great day :)
{And, yes, there will be videos up next!!}
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