Mmmm...sausage

Japan just moved up into my top 5 vacation destinations.

From Planned Parenthood's Facebook Notes

Friday Fun – Japanese “Penis Festival”

During the first week of April, folks flock to Kawasaki, Japan to celebrate Kanamara Matsuri, also known as the Festival of the Steel Phallus. Kanamara Matsuri, is a Shinto festival that has, over the years, grown into quite a spectacle. During the Edo Period (1603-1867), there was a major outbreak of syphilis among Kawasaki’s um, “ladies of the night”. The women would visit the Kanamara Shrine and pray for relief and protection from the disease. Today, the highlights of this saucy festival include transvestites parading through the town’s streets carrying a mikoshi, (portable shrine) with a humongous pink phallus on top. And, if that’s not guaranteed to make you blush as deeply as the surrounding cherry blossoms, then the spectacle of grandmas and grandpas sucking on carnal candy and sweetmeat replicas of this stupendous phallus, is more than likely to, according to the Japanese magazine “Metropolis”. Syphillis is no longer a major problem so the festival presently raises money for HIV/AIDS research.

I visited the penis festival last spring and it was indeed a sight to see. Part Shinto ceremony, part Mardi Gras, I wondered if we could ever be so bold in America. Enter Matsuri, a NYC Japanese restaurant celebrating Kanamara Matsuri. Yesterday they served a special “Phallic Matsuri Menu” and handed out Planned Parenthood’s Proper Attire Condoms! Awesome.