They Do Things Different Over There, Or...

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Source: funreports

The Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus) is an annual Shinto fertility festival held in Kawasaki , Japan in spring. The exact dates vary, but the main festivities fall on a Sunday. The penis forms the central theme of the event that’s reflected everywhere; in illustrations, candy, carved vegetables, decoration, a parade of mikoshis, etc.

Japanese Festival of Steel PhallusThe Kanamara Matsuri is centered around a local penis-venerating shrine, once popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Today, the festival is used to raise money for HIV research.

Created back in Japan’s Edo period (1603-1867) to pray for sexual safety (especially against syphilis) among Kawasaki’s prostitutes, this Shinto gathering now helps raise money for HIV/AIDS research. But the festival attracts more than just those interested in fighting STDs; it also draws Japanese couples looking for good fertility luck, a large gay/lesbian crowd, lots of proud locals, and scores of interested foreigners who come to gawk at the gigantic portable plaster phallus shrine and buy souvenir John Thomas lollypops and charms.

There's GAY folk there? Crap! Now I gotta go!

H/T Ace

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