Well, now I have! And it was every bit of fantastic as I'd expected! Absolutely huge and amazing floats, about 7m high, and weighing several tonnes each, are pushed and pulled along the roads and canal-side in Sawara. For three days! In summer, there are 10 floats (I've only got pictures of 9) and in autumn there are 14 floats. Now imagine moving a 4 tonne float in humid weather at a temperature of 32C... It was hot enough just watching, see the strain on their faces...!
Below are some video clips from 15th - 16th July, which really give a good idea of what this festival looks like, and the atmosphere. Photos if you look at the right-hand link, plus the videos again at the end.
今週末に佐原の夏祭りを見に行った。すごい！山車が巨大ですごかった！今、天気が蒸し暑くて32C ぐらい。いたいと思う！下にビデオが有って右のリンクに写真が有る。どうぞ見て下さい！
No, I'm not in New York with the Statue of Liberty! I've been to this area of Tokyo (Odaiba) a fair few times, but have only just now got round to uploading some pictures from when I went again sometime back in May this year! The first picture is, of course, of the copy of the Statue of Liberty. Apparently, in addition to the Statue of Liberty in New York, there are also two replicas of the statue in France (where the New York one was made). One of these was sent to Tokyo in 1998 for "French Year in Japan". It was so popular that a replica was erected in 2000, after the original was sent back to Paris.