Tag - festivals

 
 

FESTIVALS

LIFE / Language / COMMUNICATION CUES
Jun 22, 2015
Nebuta float heads to Milan Expo
A Nebuta Festival float from Aomori is heading to Italy to participate in a 'Japan Day' parade at the 2015 Milan Expo.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Jun 18, 2015
A festival for every weekend of your summer
Festivals (matsuri) of all kinds are a staple of Japanese culture and summer is the premier season to experience them. In recent years, the country has seen a bit of a boom in cultural festivals, to the point that it's possible to book every weekend of your summer around them. We're here to help by highlighting the best "fests" happening over the next three months.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 9, 2015
Dotonbori hopes 3,000 join Bon dance in Guinness record bid
The Dotonbori shopping district in Osaka is planning a Bon dance festival with 3,000 participants on Aug. 16, in a bid to break the Guinness world record for the number of such dancers performing at the same time.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 9, 2015
Yokohama: Who would be your ultimate date for Valentine's Day?
Love is in the air as couples celebrate their relationship and singles search for their soul mates. Who would be your ultimate Valentine's Day date?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 22, 2014
Tokyo: What's your worst Christmas memory?
An unscientific selection of views from around the capital suggests that Americans have more fun than Japanese at Christmas.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 1, 2014
Yokohama: How can you make your Christmas in Japan more ... Christmassy?
Many foreigners will spend the Christmas holiday in Japan away from family. So how do they attempt to create the feeling of a Western Christmas like those they knew back home?
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Aug 26, 2014
[SLIDESHOW] Street dancing at Super Yosakoi 2014
This year, the Super Yosakoi event attracted 98 dance teams from all across Japan. Over the weekend of Aug .23-24, approximately 6,000 team members of all ages strutted their stuff on stages and boulevards in Tokyo's Harajuku and Omotesando area. Here are highlights from the festival's climax: a continuous four-hour parade of dance, song and smiles.
JAPAN
Aug 13, 2014
Vacation exodus during Bon holidays peaks, with long traffic jams
The annual rush of travelers during the country's mid-August Bon holidays peaked Wednesday, with roads, train stations and airports congested as people headed for their hometowns and other destinations.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Aug 13, 2014
Lighting the way for o-Bon
Toro nagashi is a long-held Japanese tradition where candle-lit lanterns are released into rivers to guide the spirits of ancestors back to the other world during the o-Bon season.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 28, 2014
Looking back at Fuji Rock Festival 2014
A curated collection of the highlights of the Fuji Rock Festival 2014, as seen on social media
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 29, 2014
Short-film festival offers flicks for free
Short films are today both everywhere but nowhere, even for many who consider themselves film fans.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 29, 2014
Tropfest gives Japan a peek at Australia
The homegrown Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia will have competition for eyeballs this year as Australia's Tropfest descends on Japan. The event claims — perhaps a bit tongue-in-cheek — to be the "world's largest short-film festival."
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / WILD WATCH
Apr 12, 2014
Swimming upstream to become a dragon
While shuffling back from my early-morning dip in a hot spring at Kambayashi Onsen, I noticed the fish in the garden pond. They had gathered, heads together, in a strange starlike cluster, as if for a piscine tête-à-tête. They were languorously wafting their tails slowly through the water as if barely alive.
COMMUNITY
Dec 29, 2013
Orphan of distance? Find time to latch onto some Okinawans this New Year's
Japanese New Year's is a decidedly family affair. If you can't find a family to invite you in from the streets for a bowl of soba, it's important to find the right group of friends — friends who will make a point to gather on a cold New Year's Eve with a fellow orphan of distance. Friends who find themselves, like you, far from their homes and families, caught between two worlds.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Sep 3, 2013
10 charming things believed by little kids in Japan
Certainly everyone has some embarrassing things they thought were true as a kid. You are not alone.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 10, 2013
Bon voyage: Trains, planes, roads swarmed
The rush of travelers for the Bon summer holidays peaks, with roads, railways and airports jammed with people heading to their hometowns and other destinations.
Japan Times
MULTIMEDIA
Aug 1, 2013
[VIDEO] 2013 Shinjuku Eisa Festival
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / FUJI ROCK 2013
Jul 25, 2013
Storify: Fuji Rock Festival 2013
The Fuji Rock Festival's pre-show matsuri kicked off tonight. Over the next three days, we'll be curating the related tweets and images coming from social media.
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Jun 28, 2013
Festival flea markets are a treat
The Japanese have a knack for putting hard-to-describe feelings into words. A good example is the word "mottainai," used when expressing regret over wasting a resource or opportunity. It's an expression that's getting good use recently, as society makes a push to be more eco-conscious.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jun 7, 2013
From Björk to Kyary, festival season has arrived
Summer means a lot of things in Japan: stifling heat and humidity, fireworks and the Bon holidays, nagashi-sōmen noodles and chilled barley tea. For music fans though, the season brings a different kind of to-do list: booking cheap train tickets in advance, stocking up on essential supplies — and searching for your tent's instruction manual. Summer music festivals are an institution in Japan, and when you're hibernating six months from now, it'll be the memories of the season's highlights that will warm you up as much as any kotatsu.

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree