Misa Edito:
Having grown up with the annual St. Patty’s Day Parade in Scranton, PA, I was ready to hustle along with a whiskey-smelling, rowdy, fun-loving crowd- sporting the only green I have in Japan: the leaves of the flowers on my underwear- ready to claim to be Irish underneath. But, as it turned out, we didn’t have to hustle, as there was plenty of room to stand along the 500m stretch of road that constituted the parade route- catching it twice (once on the way up, making a U-turn and then again on the return at our backs). The crowd was calm and pleasant- perhaps mostly people who happened to be out anyway; and alcohol came in the form of a pint float of Guiness, a few inflated Bailey’s bottles and cardboard cut-outs of Jameson. Absent were excitement and abandon- the freedom to drink or challenge to drink from breakfast until you dropped (though the 3 Irish pubs in Tokyo marched, having the largest numbers within the parade). But like all good parades, this one had marching bands (US Army, university and Japanese Bag Pipe Club), baton twirlers galore and random people (mostly cute, smiling Japanese) littered with shamrocks- Irish for a day- beating along happily for just under an hour. This being Japan, a clean-up crew brought up the rear, litter bags and tongs at the ready… signifying “it’s time to go home.” (^-^)
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