Hello Kitty and festivals involving nudity and genitalia

First things first: I have a new article up Matador Trips!  I know you've all desperately wanted to know about Hello Kitty attractions in Japan and Taiwan, so I've gone through the very hard work of scouring the Internet to formulate the Hello Kitty Tour.  If you have spare funds you'd like to donate to a worthy cause, I would love to use your money to sleep in a Hello Kitty hotel and eat sweets shaped like cats wearing ribbons.

At left are Christmas presents from my host family to prove that, yes, I have a real addiction, and, yes, they do exacerbate it by sending me more Hello Kitty things than I could ever find use for.  I have Hello Kitty wine glasses.  Wine glasses.

Today is St. Patrick's Day, which for most college students is another excuse to drink heavily and engage in some reckless behaviors.  But for cleaner, more perverted fun, one could visit Komaki, a Japanese town shortly out of Nagoya. Every year on March 15, citizens gather to for a penis festival that celebrates fertility and the harvest.  Check out an article and slideshow about the event here; the girl in red on photos 12-14 is actually a friend of mine.

Unfortunately,  I didn't make it to the penis festival when I lived in Nagoya in 2008.  However, I did attend Hadaka Matsuri, or the Naked Festival, which is also held outside Nagoya.  Check out some of my photos, which surprisingly display no nudity.