IISWAI

International Students with Awesome Ideas

Volume 2, Issue 5

August 2009

 

Japan has a lot of festivals in many places through the summer.  However, many countries have festivals and these are varied and not the same as Japan.  The Japanese summer festival is very unique because it reflects many Japanese traditions. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Japanese summer festivals are often combined with fireworks, the contrast is very beautiful and fantastic!  Usually, the summer festivals are held from the evening to the night.  The time of sunset in Japan is much earlier than in Canada, so we can see the fireworks during the festivals.  Usually, the fireworks are held for about one hour so people can enjoy them for a long time. 

 

On a festival day, both sides of the street are lined with “Yatai” which are street stands.  You can buy a lot of kinds of food there and do activities such as scooping goldfish and Yo-yo picking. 　

 

Yatai(やたい) food …  for example, Takoyaki (たこやき) / Kakigoori

(かきごおり) / Chocolate banana(チョコバナナ) 

 

Many of these are delicious Japanese food! I really love them ♥♥♥

 

 

People sing and dance at the festivals.  We have some kinds of traditional dance and it is very easy, so anybody can join and dance together.  Bon dance is the famous dance at the summer festival, people dance in a big circle or move through the road. 

 

　　　

 

The summer festival’s atmosphere is a little bit different from any other events because people wear “Yukata” and it makes people act differently from usual days.  People have very romantic feelings, so when people go to the summer festival for dating, it is a good opportunity to have a good relationship with your girlfriend or boyfriend.

 

Every person, from a baby to senior citizen,　can wear Yukata and they have different charm and all are lovely.  We usually wear it only in summer time, so it is one of our pleasures through the year. 

 

Yukata(ゆかた)...  Japanese traditional clothing.  It is a kind of Kimono but it is lighter and cheaper, and most people wear it only in summer.

  　

　　

If you are planning to visit Japan in summer, you should go to “Maturi(まつり)”! ...which means “summer festivals” in Japanese.　　

 

The summer festivals which I recommend to go in Japan…

○Sumidagawa Fireworks (in Tokyo) - this is the oldest fireworks display in Japan.

○Anginsai umino Fireworks(in Shizuoka) - you can see 13,000 fireworks for one hour!

 

 

 

!!!NOTICE!!!

One thing which you should remember is at the festival in Japan, lots of people gather in one place so the street will be crowded with too many people, the road will have much traffic, and the train will be full of a great many people!

 

...At the Japanese summer festival, you can enjoy the whole Japanese atmosphere! I know you can have a really enjoyable time there!...

From Quebec to Japan, summer festivals are everywhere.

Page 13