Almost the whole of late Saturday afternoon was punctuated by the sounds of guffaws and shouting from down by the side of the Sumida River, just below where I live.
I eventually went to the balcony to check out what it was, and, to my surprise saw there was a group of about 8 boys, some almost naked, some in women's clothes, i.e. in drag, whooping it up, posing for a woman with a camera.
By the time I got down there with my camera, they were packing up ready to leave. I asked one of them what it was all about. He said "ma-ree-chee party" (with the accent on "ree"), something which in all my years here I had never heard of. "Ma-ree-chee party?" I asked in reply. There was general laughter and someone yelled out "kekkon" (from between swigs on a bottle). "Kekkon!" i.e. marriage. Got it!
I didn't inquire exactly how the shots would be used for the intended wedding celebrations, and whether they would be performing as is at the wedding. But cross-dressing, (near)-nakedness, and general boisterous clowning around are stock in trade for communal fun times in Japan.
By the way, check out the glimpse of the Tokyo Sky Tree right behind the boy posing!
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