The great tug of war in Naha City

Carrie and I took in the great tug of war in Naha with Carrie's mother and brother. Anticipating a traffic jam, we left home earlier so that we can find a place to park without any difficulty. Luckily enough, though, we could find a toll parking lot near the site of the tug of war; it was just a couple of blocks away from the main street where the event was suppose to take place.

There weren't so many people there as we expected when we arrived, but the atmosphere was already full of excitement. Before the tug of war, different groups of people from all around Naha City, in a special traditional uniform of their own region, came along led by a standard-bearer, who carried a tall heavy flagpole with skill keeping a balance. The performance of the standard-bearers was worth seeing. Some KARATE performance was also awesome.

After some speeches were given by some authorities, the tug of war finally got started. It set off with great force, but as time goes by, participants started to get tired, and lost vigor: some of them even stopped pulling at a rope and stood back to observe it. In 20 minutes or so, the east side defeated the west side by 3 meters.