Top thirty festivals for tourists visiting Japan
If you wish to risk getting fingerprinted and come to Japan, what things might you want to do? To find out what festivals or events Japanese would recommend to overseas visitors, a leading on-line consumer research company goo Research asked its monitor panel this very question.
Personally, I have only been to number 5, Daimonji (far too many people!) and number 27, the Japan Formula 1 Grand Prix. Which Japanese festivals would you recommend to tourists?
All photos below are courtesy of flickr.
Ranking results
Q: What Japanese festivals or events would you want to recommend to overseas visitors?
Rank Festival Photographer Score 1 Aomori Nebuta Festival autan 100 2 Sapporo Snow Festival glazaro 83.8 3 Gion Matsuri tkosaka 81.1 4 Awa Odori T. J. M 65.1 5 Daimonji Gozan no Okuribi masatsu 53.4
6 Kishiwada Danjiri Festival cbuddha 47.1 7 Sendai Tanabata Festival e-omiro 45.7 8 Shoro Nagashi malzor905 41.7 9 Hakata Dontaku novianto81 39.6 10 Namahage Hunnicutt 39.0 11 Yosakoi Festival d’n'c 30.2 12 Hakata Gion Yamakasa plasticpeople 29.5 13 Todaiji Omizutori realmonkey 27.0 14 Kanto Festival chrissam42 25.7 15 Tokyo Game Show LonelyBob 25.0 16 Takayama Festival Francesco_G 23.4 17 Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Yabusame chaojikazu 20.5 18 Owarakaze no Bon autan 19.1 19 Nagaoka Festival Fireworks Display eesti 18.9 20 Nagasaki Kunchi B Tse 18.2 21 Meiji Jingu New Year Visit w00kie 17.8 22 Onbashira Festival mizuha 17.8 23 Comic Market adrimaster 17.6 24 Robo-con Bjarte Aune Olsen 17.3 25 Aisa Festival 16.9 26 Hanagasa Festival frwl 16.4 27 Formula One Grand Prix in Japan emilgh 14.0 28 World Cosplay Summit adrimaster 8.8 29 Tokyo International Film Festival No picture 8.3 30 Naritasan Shinshoji Setsubun Meguro-jin 7.9
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Kaminix said,
December 3, 2007 @ 00:33
I’ve always wanted to see the Sapporo snow festival. When I was in Japan for my exchange year it was right before I came and right after I left.
I did see Yosakoi though, it was amazing, strongly recommended to practically anyone. One of my best memories from Japan.
wintersweet said,
December 3, 2007 @ 08:38
We went to Fushimi Inari at New Year, which was pretty great, but I think I’d like to see any of the above festivals and events (what an interesting mix).
Janne said,
December 3, 2007 @ 09:48
I’ve been to todaiji omizutori once. You get to see large crowds of people, and experience a vast and fascinating array of crowd control techniques employed by the police - some of which, like a small comedy routine improvised by two officers, were astonishingly effective - as you get ferried from one holding pen to another. Near the end of the experience there’s a torch appearing quickly on a balcony in a semi-distant temple building, after which you can go home. If you want to do crowd-spotting it’s great. If you want to actually see anything of the festival, then not so much.
Considering how crowded Fushimi Inari tends to be on a normal weekend (we went there saturday), I’d frankly be a bit scared of climbing the mountain trail ith the kind of crowds New Year is sure to bring. The best festivals tend to be the smaller neighbourhood ones, where everything is much more accessible and easy to see.
Mari said,
December 3, 2007 @ 11:14
I’ve been to the Daimonji Yaki and Sendai Tanabata, and they were really good. I tell people to see those, too. I saw samples of what they have at Aomori Nebuta, Akita Kanto and even Awadori at a Summer Festival Parade that they have at Ueno every year. Aomori has another festival that plays the most lively music I have ever heard.
I’d like to see the Gion Matsuri. Especially now with all the Zion connections. Hehe. I’ve been trying to go to the Nagaoka Fireworks Festival, too, but I can never get leave on that weekend.
Ken Y-N said,
December 3, 2007 @ 12:33
Janne - ah, I remember now! I couldn’t be sure if the pic above was actually from Omizutori, but I have seen that on TV where someone runs along the top of a mon gate with a torch setting light to the hanging straw. I actually had the impression it was at Kyoto’s Nanzenji, though! Perhaps they have similar festivals in various temples?
Janne said,
December 3, 2007 @ 13:03
There’s quite a lot of festivals that feature giant torches in one way or another, and of course people - and competing temples - were never afraid of copying one another in previous eras either. Not sure if that picture really is Nara, but it does look extremely similar. Note that at the Nara festival they only burn like that once, I think; for most of the evening you just have a few people carrying a large burning torch along the balustrade.
Overall, big festivals and events are probably only worth the trouble if they are spread out in some way - a walking parade, say, or set in a larger area where you walk from place to place. The ones focused on one single point really suffer when you have big crowds.
Turner said,
December 3, 2007 @ 13:25
Not enough representation from Kyushu and western Honshu.
links for 2007-12-03 | Samurai Soapbox said,
December 4, 2007 @ 02:30
[…] Top thirty festivals for tourists visiting Japan » 世論 What Japan Thinks […]
Nicole said,
April 10, 2008 @ 01:51
I wan to go see them all but unfortunately i can’t. I would really like to go and see the cosplay. Mainly the Naruto cosplay it’s my fav. show ever!!