Adults Only Festivals

Eros Fest NW is one of the few festivals all about sex. Not seedy, creepy sex, but distinctively a festival which seeks to open channels for the curious, as well as entertain the sexually adventurous and the outright bold.

Talk about male bonding! Have you ever gotten together with your buddies, stripped down to your thongs, and paraded around the neighborhood? In groups of 10-12 people at night? In mid-winter? No? Well, since I know you're dying to do this, I'll tell you about the Naked Festival in Saidaiji, Okayama prefecture.

The Cannabis Cup is a 5 day long celebration of the many wonderful things about marijuana. It's official purpose is to bring cannabis experts together so that they can 'taste' the latest varieties of marijuana and hashish, and vote for the one they like best, much as a panel of wine experts might gather to judge the year's wine offerings.

A large, pink phallus turns the corner and heads down the street. Sitting atop the shoulders of 10-12 men in bandanas, it bobs up and down to their rhythmic chants. Locals carve white radishes into images of the male reproductive system, preparing to auction them off at an afternoon banquet. Transvestites line the street; their red lipstick and hairy legs are no less a contrast than the grandmother who's licking on a lollypop that's in the shape of a....well, you can probably guess by now.

There are no sponsors, no endorsements and no Life magazine exposes. This is the third annual Nude Olympics we're talking about and, like the contestants themselves, this event has been stripped of all trappings.

Not to be outdone, every March 15th, the small town of Komaki, Japan celebrates Hounen Matsuri. Matsuri means festival and Hounen, I'm fairly sure, means Big Wooden Penis. Okay, actually it means something much less interesting, but it SHOULD mean Big Wooden Penis, because there is, in fact, a Big Wooden Penis featured prominently throughout the festival.