Clown town.

Tokyo was amazing. AMAZING. Not sure I appropriately conveyed that when posting photos, its afterglow having faded, leaving me in a funk. Another mood-dampener: in the midst of my carefully planned, highly captivating Halloween lessons, many students—entire homerooms, in fact—were home with influenza, and we were all required to wear masks of the surgical, not scary, variety.Much to my surprise, however, I was able to escape two weeks at germ school sans swine…and although Halloween is not celebrated here in Japan, that weekend brought Daidogei, the International Street Performance World Cup, to Shizuoka. Free from any terrifying childhood experiences with clowns, I was happily entertained by my town newly overrun by buskers.I forgot my viewing ladder...but got to enjoy tasty food on a stick (choco-pineapple).And the rain scared off only those weak-kneed, undedicated performers who probably have day jobs back home. The exhibition continued for four days, into the work week; only then did the clowniness catch me off guard a bit, while going about my daily activities…Performers, from top: a wire-walking and hula-hooping couple from Italy, musclemen from Australia, James-san and his lasso from Japan, dueling hairstylists from Australia, and a slow-motion tennis-playing duo from Japan.

P.S. The grand champion of the weekend was a contortionist from Mexico who shot a bow-and-arrow with her feet.