Kanamara Matsuri Festival!!!

Kawasaki

Ok so call me crazy but this is the main reason why we came to Japan this year...The first Sunday of April Kawasaki puts on a fertility festival - Kanamara Matsuri.  Only the Japanese would throw a party celebrating the penis!

If you ever plan on going, one word of advice:  GO EARLY.  The festival starts at 11 but it gets crowded real fast.  We were there at 8:30 to stand in line for lollipops, which the line opened at 9 and got suuuuuper long.  I was one of the first in line :)

The weather was ugly when we got there and thankfully it cleared up (sort of!) so it wouldn't be a muddy mess.

I wanted to buy a bottle of this sake but we were worried it would break bringing it home

Waiting for the parade...

This was right around 11...

Another word of advice...don't wait around at the start of the parade like I did if you want to take pictures.  I got crappy pictures because there were too many people in the way.  Go down the block across the street from the temple where it's less crowded

Like I said, go early.  This is around noon after the parade had passed.  This is the beginning of the line just to get in

This is the back

When we jumped on the subway I noticed that the line went around the block all the way to the next street!

My lollipop stash...

How to get there:

Jump on the Yamanote Line to Shinagawa Station (or Asakusa line > Sengakuji)

Switch to Keikyu Line > Keikyu Kawasaki (around 10 mins on the Rapid Ltd. Exp. or around 25 mins on the local service)

Change to the Keikyu Daishi Line > Kawasaki Daishi

Take the South Exit, you will see a Sunkus store across the street.  Go into the street to the right of it and the temple will be on the right.  

Have fun!