Harajuku Omotesando Genki-sai Super Yosakoi 2019
In August, the streets of Japan are filled with the sounds of music and dance. In Tokyo, one of the monster events is the Harajuku Omotesando Genki-sai Super Yosakoi, for which more than 100 teams gather to perform on streets and stages in the ...
Japanese Bon dance picking up popular tunes as it goes international
The Bon Odori dance, once a community event and a midsummer ritual for consoling ancestors' spirits, has evolved drastically in recent years, picking up popular disco and anime tunes and attracting people regardless of their age or nationality. "Let's take Bon dance to the world!" ...
Fuji Rock '19: The 'international' festival gets more worldly
On the Thursday night before the Fuji Rock Festival begins in earnest, part of the festival site is open to everyone free of charge.
Japan's summer festivals plan for a final party before Olympic fever hits
As Yo La Tengo once sang, "summer's what you make it," and that's especially true in Japan this year. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics are likely to throw a major wrench (or should that be hammer?) in the works for next summer's festival ...
Stranger things: Weird ways to get festive in Japan
Men in straw capes wearing ferocious horned masks with gleaming eyes and long, pointed fangs stare down at a group of reporters. Others donning masks of a devil, monkey and a long-nosed tengu birdman squat as they pose for photographs during a news conference ...
Namahage demon festival of northern Japan grapples with blessing and curse of UNESCO listing
As a child, Tatsuo Sato was terrified when the Namahage demons roared into his house every year, but in adulthood he mourned as the centuries-old tradition faded away. "The kids disappeared, the young people disappeared. We had to give it up," Sato, 78, said of ...
Coming-of-age ceremonies in areas of Japan devastated by last year's disasters hold extra poignancy
Those who were born in 1998 and became 20 years old in the last year number 1.25 million — about half of the national record of 2.46 million set in 1970.
More than 70 percent of youths and young adults prefer to celebrate their coming-of-age at 20, even though the age of legal adulthood in Japan will be lowered to 18 in April 2022, according to a recent online survey by a Japanese think tank. The ...
The death of a Japanese countryside festival
Ancient rites bend to an aging, shrinking population, but how much longer can local traditions hold out?
Halloween in Japan: Make up, dress up — and hook up?
Halloween has become one of the coolest days on the calendar, and it's less about sweets for kids than it is an occasion for grown-ups to deck themselves out in costumes for all-night reveling.
Firecrackers and reluctant authorities: New Delhi's smog set to worsen during Diwali
With a toxic smog beginning to envelop New Delhi as winter approaches, residents of the Indian capital are set to make matters a lot worse by burning hundreds of thousands of firecrackers to celebrate the Hindu festival of Diwali early next month. India, which has ...
200-year-old Mie puppet's neck on the line as whaling ban makes crucial part scarce
Onyudo is a giant kimono-clad, long-necked puppet that has been preserved by residents of the Nakanaya area of Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, for more than 200 years. The puppet, regarded as a symbol of Yokkaichi, appears on a float in the annual Grand Yokkaichi Festival, showing ...
