This is an incomplete list of festivals in Japan.
Festival name | Type | City/venue | Years | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Yamaha Popular Song Contest | Pop festival | Kakegawa | 1969-1986 | Music contest and festival |
B-Boy Park | Hip hop festival | |||
Concert on the Rock | Rock festival | |||
Cosquín en Japón | Folk festival | |||
Firefox Rock Festival | Rock festival | |||
Fuji Rock Festival | Rock festival | |||
Heart-Aid Shisen | Rock festival | 2008 | ||
Live under the sky | Rock festival | |||
Loud Park Festival | Heavy metal festival | |||
Mount Fuji Jazz Festival | Jazz festival | |||
Naon no Yaon | Rock festival | Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall | 1987–1991, 2008, 2013–present | Exclusively female performers |
Newport Jazz Festival in Madarao | Jazz festival | |||
Rising Sun Rock Festival | Rock festival | |||
Rock in Japan Festival | Rock festival | |||
Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto | Classical music festival | |||
Songs Day | Pop festival | |||
Summer Sonic Festival | Rock festival | |||
Tokyo Music Festival | Pop festival | |||
Yamaha Music Festival | Classical music festival | |||
The cinema of Japan has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world; as of 2021, it was the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. In 2011 Japan produced 411 feature films that earned 54.9% of a box office total of US$2.338 billion. Films have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived.
Shinto is a religion that originated in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners Shintoists, although adherents rarely use that term themselves. Shinto has no central authority in control, and much diversity exists among practitioners.
Samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the daimyo. They had high prestige and special privileges such as wearing two swords. They cultivated the bushido codes of martial virtues, indifference to pain, and unflinching loyalty, engaging in many local battles. Though they had predecessors in earlier military and administrative officers, the samurai truly emerged during the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from c.1185–1333. They became the ruling political class, with significant power but also significant responsibility. During the 13th century, the samurai proved themselves as adept warriors against the invading Mongols. During the peaceful Edo era, they became the stewards and chamberlains of the daimyo estates, gaining managerial experience and education. In the 1870s samurai families comprised 5% of the population. As modern militaries emerged in the 19th century, the Samurai were rendered increasingly obsolete and very expensive to maintain compared to the average conscript soldier. The Meiji Restoration ended their feudal roles, and they moved into professional and entrepreneurial roles. Their memory and weaponry remain prominent in Japanese popular culture.
Akita Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Its population is approximately 966,000 and its geographic area is 11,637 km2. Akita Prefecture is bordered by Aomori Prefecture to the north, Iwate Prefecture to the east, Miyagi Prefecture to the southeast, and Yamagata Prefecture to the south.
Busan, officially known as Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second-most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, with its port—Korea's busiest and the sixth-busiest in the world. The surrounding "Southeast Economic Zone" is South Korea's largest industrial area.
Japanese festivals are traditional festive occasions. Some festivals have their roots in Chinese festivals centuries ago, but have undergone great changes as they mixed with local customs, and many no longer resemble their originating festival even remotely, despite sharing the same name and date. There are also various local festivals that are mostly unknown outside a given prefecture.
Tanabata, also known as the Star Festival, is a Japanese festival originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi. According to legend, the Milky Way separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar. The date of Tanabata varies by region of the country, but the first festivities begin on 7 July of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is held at various days between July and August.
Hiroshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Hiroshima Prefecture has a population of 2,811,410 and has a geographic area of 8,479 km². Hiroshima Prefecture borders Okayama Prefecture to the east, Tottori Prefecture to the northeast, Shimane Prefecture to the north, and Yamaguchi Prefecture to the southwest.
Fukushima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 and has a geographic area of 13,783 square kilometres (5,322 sq mi). Fukushima Prefecture borders Miyagi Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture to the north, Niigata Prefecture to the west, Gunma Prefecture to the southwest, and Tochigi Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture to the south.
A cherry blossom is a flower of many trees of genus Prunus or Prunus subg. Cerasus. They are known as Japanese cherry and sakura. They are also a common species in East Asia, like China, Korea, and especially in Japan. They generally refer to ornamental cherry trees, not to be confused with cherry trees that produce fruit for eating. It is considered the national flower of Japan.
Sendai is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region, and the second largest city north of Tokyo. As of 1 June 2020, the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 designated cities. The city was founded in 1600 by the daimyō Date Masamune. It is nicknamed the City of Trees; there are zelkova trees lining many of the main thoroughfares such as Jōzenji Street and Aoba Street. In the summer, the Sendai Tanabata Festival, the largest Tanabata festival in Japan, is held. In winter, the trees are decorated with thousands of lights for the Pageant of Starlight, lasting through most of December.
Hirokazu Kore-eda is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor. He began his career in television and has since directed more than a dozen feature films, including Nobody Knows (2004), Still Walking (2008), and After the Storm (2016). He won the Jury Prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival for Like Father, Like Son and won the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival for Shoplifters.
Obon or just Bon is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist–Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves when the spirits of ancestors are supposed to revisit the household altars. It has been celebrated in Japan for more than 500 years and traditionally includes a dance, known as Bon Odori.
Aichi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 and a geographic area of 5,172.92 square kilometres (1,997.28 sq mi) with a population density of 1,460 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,800/sq mi). Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture to the north, and Shizuoka Prefecture to the east.
Suijin is the Shinto god of water in Japanese mythology. The term Suijin refers to the heavenly and earthly manifestations of the benevolent Shinto divinity of water. It also refers to a wide variety of mythological and magical creatures found in lakes, ponds, springs, and wells, including serpents, and the flesh-eating kappa. Mizu no kamisama, Mizugami, or Suijin, is popularly revered and worshipped in temples and continues to influence Japanese culture. Suijin is also known as the water god, Suiten and Sui-ō/Suiu.
Buddha's Birthday is a Buddhist festival that is celebrated in most of East Asia and South Asia commemorating the birth of the Prince Siddhartha Gautama, later the Gautama Buddha, who was the founder of Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, Gautama Buddha was born c. 563–483 BCE in Lumbini.
Sapporo is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo, Japan and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It is the capital city of Hokkaido Prefecture and Ishikari Subprefecture. Sapporo lies in the southwest of Hokkaido, within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, which is a tributary stream of the Ishikari. It is considered the cultural, economic, and political center of Hokkaido.
The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. An alumnus of the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, he started getting attention in his home country with the graduate film Passion (2008).
Drive My Car is a 2021 Japanese drama/road film co-written and directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi. It is primarily based on Haruki Murakami's short story of the same name from his 2014 collection Men Without Women, while taking inspiration from other stories in it. The film follows Yūsuke Kafuku as he directs a multilingual production of Uncle Vanya in Hiroshima and grapples with the death of his wife, Oto.