YOKOSUKA, Kanagawa Pref. -- Never mind what the weatherman says, in my small town of Tanoura in Yokosuka, the two hottest days each year fall on the last weekend of July.
For it is on these two days that the local citizens haul the mikoshi (portable shrine) down from its lofty hilltop home, and the able-bodied at first carry it through the town.
I have just survived my 12th weekend-long date with the local deity -- a custom I picked up pretty much by accident. And as I usually do each year, I joined in the o-matsuri from beginning to end.