Tag - matsuri

 
 

MATSURI

On July 17, Jiyugaoka in western Tokyo held its summer Bon Odori Festival for the first time in four years. While the pandemic spelled the end of the road for some longstanding local events, others weathered the storm.
CULTURE / Longform
Jul 24, 2023
Fate of the fete: Japan’s matsuri fight to survive
While COVID-19 was the final nail in the coffin for many of the country's smaller festivals, others have clung on and are making a determined comeback this year.
A man stands atop a float holding a portable shrine at this year’s Sanja Festival in Tokyo.
PODCAST / deep dive
Jul 20, 2023
Why 2023 will be a deciding year for Japan’s iconic summer festivals
As the population gets older do we risk losing the summer festivals that make Japan unique?
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 7, 2023
Summer festivals like Tanabata are back in full force (yay!), and so is heatstroke (boo!)
Get to know the vocabulary surrounding symptoms of heatstroke, heat exhaustion and how to ask someone if they need help.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jun 19, 2023
Pokemon fan events level up Yokohama's 2023 world championships
Japan will finally host the iconic franchise’s premier esports competition — alongside a slate of stage shows, musical performances and Pikachu parades.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Photo essay
May 28, 2023
Does the pure joy seen at this year's Sanja Matsuri hint at a summer of celebration?
After scaled-down celebrations became the norm during the COVID-19 pandemic, one of Tokyo's biggest festivals returns in full form.
JAPAN
Jul 17, 2022
Yamahoko float parade returns in Kyoto's Gion Festival
Twenty-three yamahoko floats paraded on major streets of the city, a highlight of the traditional festival, which is said to be one of the country's three largest.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Apr 30, 2022
Riding logs and tempting fate at the Onbashira festival
After deaths in 2010 and 2016, who would volunteer for the Onbashira festival? The locals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Jul 1, 2021
Foodman escapes the city for ‘Yasuragi Land’
Music producer Foodman's new album is an ode to the places and objects that make up the landscape of everyday life beyond the dense cities of Osaka and Tokyo.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel
Nov 23, 2018
Discovering Kyoto through the eyes of Genji
At the height of the splendor of the Heian Period (794-1185), lady-in-waiting to the Imperial Court, Murasaki Shikibu, wrote 'The Tale of Genji,' the story of imperial officer Hikaru Genji falling in and out of love with his various suitors. After centuries of war, city-wide fires, rebuilding and tourist development, does anything from Genji's Heian-kyo still remain in modern Kyoto?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Oct 2, 2018
'Music progresses when people make mistakes': Foodman favors taking risks on new album
Last month, the return of Ultra Japan to Tokyo provoked the usual eye-rolls with its parade of EDM superstars gallivanting onstage to obviously pre-recorded sets. But trust Takahide Higuchi — the Nagoya-based producer better known as Shokuhin Matsuri aka Foodman — to see the funny side.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Sep 8, 2018
Kosuke Kurotaki: The 'festival guy' who just wants everyone to have fun
Whether he's serving you drinks, playing you records or carrying a festival float, Wokini bar owner Kurotaki is detrmined to entertain you.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink
May 5, 2018
Annual festival sees cows under the hammer for a cool ¥25 million
In Mie Prefecture, the city of Matsusaka celebrates its animal husbandry with a cattle auction each November.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 22, 2017
At trial, Dentsu chief admits ad giant guilty of ignoring illegal levels of overtime
In a rare one-day trial expected to result in a small fine, Dentsu President Toshihiro Yamamoto admits the powerful advertiser permitted overtime violations that killed employee Matsuri Takahashi.
Japan Times
LIFE / Travel / PHOTO ESSAY
Jan 21, 2017
Purified by the water and fire of Japan in Wakayama
On the polished stones of Ojigahama Beach in Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture, a group of men stand in the February cold. Dressed in long athletic coats they look like a marooned football team. They've come for shiogori, a saltwater baptism to cleanse body and mind and the first act of one of Japan's two...
JAPAN / Society
Dec 27, 2016
Ministry to make it easier to shame companies with excessive overtime
The labor ministry will bolster regulations covering illegal overtime by making it easier to publicize the names of errant companies.
JAPAN / Media / DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN
Dec 3, 2016
Working harder to end death by overwork
"When you're in the office 20 hours a day, you don't understand what life you're living for anymore. (It's so pathetic) you come to laugh." — Twitter post by Matsuri Takahashi, as reported in the Mainichi Shimbun
Japan Times
CULTURE
Nov 21, 2016
Scenes from the Tohoku Rokkon Festival Parade in Tokyo Shintora Matsuri
Sunday's Tohoku Rokkon Festival Parade was the climax of the Tokyo Shintora Matsuri, which was held this weekend in Toranomon. Close to 300 performers, a handful of cute mascots and one giant float offered up a lively sampler of Tohoku's biggest festivals.

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition