Activities Paantu Festival in Okinawa Sarah Koh Okinawa's Miyakojima island celebrates the Paantu festival – an ancient form of exorcism involving supernatural creatures, ma...
Culture Hamamatsu Cup Festa Samba Anonymous A samba contest with both local and professional samba teams taking part.
Activities Light of Hope Lynda Hogan Each month for two weeks Gyoda City has a floral water font (hanachozu) event. For one night during those two weeks they also...
Culture Huis Ten Bosch Fireworks Festival Kim Nagasaki's Huis Ten Bosch theme park celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and the venue is hosting a massive fireworks ...
Culture Introducing Noh & Kyogen Sleiman Azizi On May 14th, the National Noh Theatre will host dissemination performances of the kyogen play, Fuji Matsu and the noh play, K...
Culture Otsu Festival Cathy Cawood Otsu Matsuri takes place in early October and features thirteen ornate floats with ingenious mechanical puppets.
Culture Sakado Yosakoi Festival Todd Wojnowski Sakado Yosakoi is a huge traditional dance festival held in Sakado City, Saitama every summer. Over 250,000 visitors watch mo...
Culture Warai Festival José Manuel Zardain Warai festival is celebrated every year at Niu shrine in Wakayama. The leader, dressed as clown, guides the participants to t...
Culture Naha Tug-of-War Festival Guilhem Malfre Every October, Naha hosts its annual Tug-of-War Festival, where competing teams face off with a 200-meter long rope – a Guinn...
Activities Saijo Sake Festival Ciara Long Two days of food stalls, live music, entertainment and over 900 types of sake from all over Japan.