Japan — Events
Neputa Festival
August 1, 2010 - August 31, 2010
Like the Aomori Nebuta Festival, huge painted paper sculptures are paraded through the night streets, illuminated from within. But the Hirosaki festival is a more elegant, low key affair than its rumbustious neighbor. The floats are generally fan-shaped, with two flat sides. One portrays a historical battle scene while the reverse shows a beautiful woman, often framed by scenes of death. The local view is that Hirosaki reflects the sombre mood of preparation for war while Aomori expresses the jubilant return from a victorious battle.
Gujo Festival
August 1, 2010 - August 31, 2010
Gujo Odori is one of the most accessible of Japan’s summer festivals. The dancing continues for 31 nights, but the high point of the festival is the all-night dancing (’Tetsuya-odori’) in the city’s streets and parks over the four days and nights of the Obon summer festival in mid-August. From its inception over 400 years ago, the aim was to create an occasion where everybody in the town of Gujo Hachiman could get together, regardless of the very powerful social divisions which then existed between peasants and samurai.
Hanagasa (Flower Hat Dance) Festival
August 5, 2010 - August 7, 2010
Thousands of dancers perform the ‘hanagasa-ondo’, a dance representing farmers harvesting safflowers. Safflowers are used for their oil and their spiky yellow and red flowers, which are used to decorate the dancers’ straw hats, are the symbol of Yamagata Prefecture. Floats bearing performers, drummers and other musicians move along among the dancers. If you want to take part, there’s a section at the back for crowd participation, but watch the main parade first to pick up the steps.
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony
August 6, 2010
The City of Hiroshima commemorates the dropping of the atomic bomb. The ceremony remembers those who lost their lives in the hope that the experience of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will never be repeated. The Mayor of Hiroshima delivers the Peace Declaration during the ceremony, and this is sent to every country in the world to express Hiroshima’s devout wish that nuclear weapons be banned.
Awa Odori
August 12, 2010 - August 15, 2010
Awa dancing is so much more energetic than other styles of Japanese dancing that this festival has some claim to being Japan’s answer to the Rio Carnival. Dancers participate in teams of several dozen called ‘ren’ (and there have been over 800 ren in recent years). Unlike other Japanese dances associated with the summer Bon festival, awa requires dancers to keep their arms above shoulder height.
Suwa Shrine Lantern Festival
August 26, 2010 - August 27, 2010
Enormous paper lanterns are paraded through the streets of Isshiki to ward off a sea demon. About 450 years ago, troubled by the havoc caused every summer and autumn by a demon in Mikawa Bay, the people of Isshiki brought in the deity Suwa from the Shinshu region. At first they lit bonfires in his honor, but over the years these have been replaced by lanterns. However, the six local neighborhood associations have become increasingly competitive over the size of their lanterns.
Tokyo Motor Show
December 3, 2011 - December 11, 2011
The huge Tokyo Motor Show promises to examine “next-generation automobiles and the social systems with which they interact”. Expect to hear a lot about solar power and “low carbon” while surrounded by plenty of automobiles.
Gishi-sai
December 13, 2011 - December 14, 2011
The Gishi-sai festival honors the ‘47 loyal retainers in Akoh’, a drama based on an incident which actually took place in 1703, when 47 vassals avenged their master’s death by killing his enemy. Ever since then, it has been performed over and over again in the form of ‘joruri’ (a narrative ballad) in Kabuki as well as in movie and TV dramas. This is one of Japan’s best-loved tales.
Hagoita-Ichi (Battledore Fair)
December 17, 2011 - December 19, 2011
The Hagoita-Ichi (Battledore Fair) is an annual fair held at the Sensoji Temple in Asakusa. Street stalls sell all shapes and sizes ofhagoita - decorative wooden bats used as lucky charms. In the past they were used to play a form of badminton. Traditionally they are decorated with colorful portraits of kabuki actors, but today they may equally portray pop stars or characters from mangas (comics).
Okera Mairi
December 31, 2011 - January 1, 2012
On Okera Mairi, it is traditional to visit Kyoto’s Yasaka Shrine to obtain the sacred flame of okera, a medicinal herb. The lighted roots of the herb are then carried back home where fires are lit on which the first meal of the New Year is cooked. The herb is used to cleanse the evil forces and energies of the previous year.
