St. Paddy's Day in Ise!!

I wasn't really expecting St. Patrick's Day to be a big thing here, and actually, most Japanese people haven't even heard of it, but apparently there is enough of a foreign population (and Japanese people who are interested in all things foreign) to have quite a few events in celebration. The one closest to me was a parade/party in Ise. The Irish ambassador even came down from Tokyo (he was really cool; later he bought the bar I was in a round of drinks).

I showed up at Ise shrine shortly before the parade was due to start, only to discover that we WERE the parade, not spectators. I was given an "Irish dancer" costume and told I should dance at the front of the parade.

Of course I agreed (the Guiness helped me get in the spirit).

The parade consisited of many drunken foreigners in green/costume walking around Ise.

We also had a troupe of baton twirlers who performed to, well, it sounded more like marching band music than Irish music.

We did have an Irish band as well though, which was what I was dancing to (pretending I knew how to dance like an Irish dancer, which I don't).

This was the laziest parade I've ever seen, let alone been in, and there were very few people watching us, although I do think we turned a few heads of people who didn't know what was happening. After the parade and some food, there was an official party at the cultural centre, where we drank more (guiness on tap!), were taught how to do an Irish folk dance, by cute little Japanese ladies,
and were given Guiness merchandise. It was a really fun celebration:)