Japanese Festivals

Posted by Kyle Yates in Kansai Culture, Kansai Food

Japan has a plethora of festivals throughout the year. Most cities have one or two a year celebrating some sort of cultural event.

Take spring time for instance. Right before spring – very soon – most cities celebrate the coming of spring. It is the season of hanami, flower blossom viewing. People flock to parks and shrines to view cherry and plum blossoms. So it is not unusual to see booths lined up along roadways where people can buy special foods or play games to win prizes near the popular hanami sites; parks, shrines, and temples.

The last festival I saw had ball toss, ball scooping with paper nets (this is a difficult one because the nets are made out of paper and once they get wet, they become useless), fish scooping (kids get to keep however many fish they scoop) and other various little festival games for kids and adults.

The foods found at festivals vary depending on the season.

In summer, you can usually find kakigori (shaved ice), yakitori or yakiniki (grilled skewered chicken or beef), cotton candy, hot dogs on a stick, grilled squid or octopus, and various other grilled foods along with beer (usually 300 yen for a 350ml can).

In winter, however, you’ll see a few different foods, usually hot ones, like oden, ramen, udon, along with the grilled foods you also see in summer.

The last festival I went to had a great deal unseen at other festivals where you could pay 300 yen and get one of everything to eat. That was dirt cheap! Usually when you go to a festival in Japan, it’s 300 yen for one sausage. To get all these things for that price was phenomenal.

They also had a small flea market at the beginning filled with lots of nice items for dirt cheap. I bought a tripod for my camera that will fit in my backpack better than the one I already have for 500 yen.

Don’t miss out on the summer festivals. If you hear of one, go. They are lots of fun and a great way to learn about Japanese culture.