Bullfight...Sort of.

This weekend I had my first Okinawan bullfight experience. It was very different than I had imagined. During my undergraduate years, I went to Spain and studied there for a semester. The bullfighting experience there is quite gory and involves a crazy man (in my opinion) and one bull in a ring. In Okinawa there are two bulls who "fight" each other. They have handlers who hold onto a rope attached to the bulls' nose the entire time.

The bulls basically push each other around. The looser is the bull who gives up first. I think this one we went to was more for show than the real competitions they often have. Apparently they hold real competitive matches with judges and possibly a little betting on the winner.

Of course there had to be quite a few performances by kids. The Japanese love being entertained!

As many of you know, I HATE clowns and anything or anyone dressed up, it just creeps me out. This guy was no exception, but Laura was brave enough to take a picture with him!

At the end, we went down into the ring where they brought out an old bull and you could take a picture next to it OR sit on top of it. Of course I couldn't be a wimp, I had to get on! Only in Okinawa!

Here are my friends Laura and Sabrina with me and the host, the creepy clown and of course a girl dressed up as a cow because, well why not?