Hadaka Matsuri: Get A Shingi

Around 9,000 semi-naked men gathered at the Saidaiji Temple in the city of Okayama to participate in the annual Hadaka Matsuri, also known as Naked Festival, on Saturday.

Naked festivals are held in dozens of places throughout Japan every year, usually in the summer or winter. The participants dressed only in loincloth compete for honorable title of ‘lucky man’. According to the local tradition, the winner gets a year of health, wealth and prosperity. But the men have to struggle fiercely for the lucky year: at first purify themselves in freezing water, then manage to get hold a pair of lucky sticks, known as shingi, preventing others from snatching them away.

What the women do to get a year of health, wealth and prosperity? Try to get a hold of a lucky men, perhaps?

Drought

The growing risk of worldwide water shortages is worse than scientists previously thought, according to a new study.

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More than 70 percent, which is 4 billion people, of the world’s population lives without sufficient access to fresh water for at least one month of the year, according to a new paper published Friday in the journal Science Advances.

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Artist Joel Krebs envisions a disastrous drought that leaves world landmarks without water. Krebs imagines a complete climate shift, where an epic drought dries up the world’s great landscapes. 

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Evgeny Kazantsev presents a surreal look at what our cities and surroundings might look like in catastrophic conditions. The series imagines a pattern of extreme weather changes, forcing the earth’s natural and urban landscapes into ruin and disrepair. Beloved landmarks, towns and touristic sites are afflicted by heat waves, ice storms and droughts, leaving each in a state of decay and degeneration. Mesmerizing images. Follow the link above to see them. I selected two images related to drought:

Venice’s world-celebrated canals are envisioned without water

Barcelona’s landmark Sagrada Familia is in near ruins, as a result of an extreme dust storm.

Articles — only a few of many — about water shortage and research on the subject:

• New research could predict catastrophic droughts in the Central Andes
• Where Catastrophic Droughts and Floods Are Bound to Happen in the U.S.
• California’s water supply headed for collapse in just one year; state has “no contingency plan” – NASA scientist
• DROUGHT – Technical Hazard Sheet – Natural Disaster Profiles
• Global Water Shortage Risk Is Worse Than Scientists Thought