Japanese people beating the crap out of one another

Over the weekend, my neighbor Rachael and I went to a JET beach BBQ, which was really fun. I took some pictures on my camera phone, and will post them once I get an SD-card reader. Afterwards, we all went to a festival in Wajima, which is 1 hour away by car. The festival is basically a shouting contest involving Taiko-drums between all the different communities in Wajima, culminated by setting a pillar with three flags on fire. Once the pillar hits the ground, everyone scrambles to get the flag BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE. Rachael was my ride back, so I had to leave before the shit hit, but I was told it was impressively violent, and as soon as my JET-friends get around to it, I'll have pictures. :)

God, Japan is weird.