Emperor of Japan

So this week was "Naadam" in Mongolia.  It is a holiday that started 2225 years ago and has been going ever since.  It lasted 9 days.  Almost everything shut down. Naadam means games and is a celebration of their country's existence.  It has four major games:  Horse racing, Archery, Wrestling, and Ankle Bone shooting (actual bones from animals which they flick with their finger into a stack of bones). The horse racing is only for children ages 5-10. They all race together in one big group, 300-500 riders, and they go cross country for 30 kilometers (19 miles), amazing!  

We went to the opening ceremony and it was amazing.  It was much like an Olympic Stadium Opening Ceremony, but this one seemed like a bunch of Nephites and Lamanites running and fighting on the field.  All around the stadium were small shops that sold food and drinks, umbrellas, hats--Gma bought one:)-shoes, sunglasses etc. We are attaching some pictures.  

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was also held Thursday through Saturday.  The Emperor of Japan, China, and South Korea along with 3,000 other government officials from various Asia-European countries attended.  We have never seen so many policeman in our whole lives.  The streets were lined with policeman.  A policeman every 50 yards on both sides of the street, even on many side streets. Even though all this was going on we still were able to get some Humanitarian and English work done.