Matsuri

Pokémon Japanese summer festival toys to make Happy Meals extra-happy at McDonald’s Japan【Pics】

Pikachu wants to bring you some matsuri fun and style.

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Tokyo’s coolest open-air museum gets even cooler with hot summer nights event

Edo Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum wants to take you back in time to an old-school summer festival.

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The top 11 Japanese summer festivals, according to travellers

Mark your calendars for these spectacular festivals!

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Our street food-skipping reporter learns he’s been doing Japanese festivals wrong his whole life

He’s one of the few people in Japan who made it to adulthood without trying one of the country’s most popular festival foods.

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Goodbye katanuki? Japanese festival game may go extinct thanks to the pandemic

The only makers of katanuki pieces may have to close their doors forever if the pandemic continues much longer.

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Mysterious Spirit Boat Procession in Nagasaki and the sandbox tram that follows it【Video】

A night when mystery hangs thick in the air. 

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Sanrio’s matsuri festival-themed toys and plushes will give you Japanese summer vibes at home

The cutest product is definitely the goldfish-scooping set. Or maybe it’s the little pouches made to resemble shaved ice?

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Get an authentic Japanese summer festival in a box with this crowdfunding project

Because social distancing doesn’t mean you can’t have fun.

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Hanazono Jinja Shrine: Lanterns, stalls and rakes at annual Tori no Ichi cock festival in Tokyo

Don’t miss your chance to attend one of the biggest cock festivals in Tokyo.

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2018 Tohoku Kizuna Festival aims to unite the people of northern Japan

This “Festival of Tohoku Bonds” continues to pay homage to six of northern Japan’s most important annual festivals all at one time and one place.

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Japan’s Kodo taiko group creates awesome new performance with 3D sound technology

The stunning sound and visuals in this new clip are designed to transport viewers to a Japanese festival as part of a new website for foreign tourists.

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Aragehonji breathes new life into traditional Japanese folk music

These days its hard to describe any music as “unique” but Aragehonji certainly fit that bill.

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We take a close-up look at some Japanese street food found at summer festivals【Photos】

 From fried noodles to “octopus balls”, what you’ll find at a festival food stall is probably nothing like you imagined Japanese food to be.

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Cats appear at Japan’s famous Tanabata Festival in Sendai this summer

The huge streamer decorations that draw crowds from all around Japan will now feature adorable cat characters created by an anime artist.

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Cloudy skies can’t keep these symbols of fertility down! Note: This post may not be safe for your workplace.

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Despite raging typhoon, Gion Matsuri goes on as it has for over 1,000 years【Video】

The Gion Festival, or Gion Matsuri, has been celebrated consistently for over a thousand years and is one of the most famous festivals in Japan. The highlight is the Yamahoko Parade which occurs twice, on July 17 and July 24, and our competition winner’s wish was to see it happen with her own eyes here in Japan. This year, with a incoming typhoon, there were rumors swirling about the festival being cancelled, but with hardly any interruptions in its long history, this parade wasn’t about to be stopped by mere weather!
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On Sunday 5 April Kanayama Shrine held its annual Kanamara Matsuri, a traditional Japanese festival of Shinto origin that incorporates a phallic parade and has now become quite the tourist magnet. And there were penises everywhere.

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Shimotsuki Matsuri: The extraordinary winter festival that inspired Ghibli’s ‘Spirited Away’

Shimotsuki Festival is held every December in the remote mountains of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. But as well as locals, the festival also attracts visitors from farther afield, all ooking for the magic and fantasy of the world of Studio Ghibli.

That’s because this ancient festival, featuring boiling cauldrons and dancing monsters, has an unlikely and little-known claim to fame: it inspired Hayao Miyazaki to make Spirited Away.

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These wacky traditional dancers know how to put the fun in fundoshi! 【Video】

Here at RocketNews24 there’s nothing we like more on a man (or indeed a woman) than a dashing fundoshi. While we believe the traditional Japanese underwear that’s part-apron, part-loincloth is suitable for any occasion, we’re prepared to accept that they’re mainly seen at matsuri (festivals) these days.

So when we found this wondrous video of a group of men doing a special festival bird-catching dance in fundoshi, we knew we were in for a treat. Join us after the jump for some very genki dancing men having a lot of body-slappin’ good fun!

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Tohoku Rokkonsai to showcase northern Japan’s six biggest summer festivals all in one place

Kyoto, Osaka, Nara…southern Japan seems to get all the love from both international and Japanese tourists alike. But what about the rest of the country, like the six northern prefectures? Northern Japan, known as Tohoku in Japanese (東北, “the northeast”), is a hidden gem full of unique cultural traditions, unspoiled natural scenery, and some of the warmest people you’ll ever meet, despite the chilling winters.

This weekend is a better time than ever to hop on the bullet train up north to take part in the Tohoku Rokkonsai “mega-festival”. The festival began in 2011 to lift the spirits of the people of Tohoku after the deadly earthquake and tsunami just months earlier. The highlight of the festivities is a massive parade composed of segments from all six of Tohoku’s major summer festivals. Where else can you experience the excitement of SIX major festivals all at once FOR FREE??

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