Sendai - Tanabata Matsuri Festival

We arrived at the famous Sendai Tanabata Matsuri Festival location.

Inside the arcade...?

Actually I've been to Hiratsuka Tanabata Matsuri when I was a student.

It was at open area (that means there was no roof) and I thought Sendai would be bigger version of Hiratsuka...

But still Tanabata decoration is so colourful and nice!

BTW, what's "Tanabata"?

Here's Wiki as usual. :)

Tanabata (meaning "Evening of the seventh") is a Japanese star festival, originating from the Chinese Qixi Festival. It celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi (represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively). 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 July 7 of the Gregorian calendar. The celebration is held at various days between July and August.

Since young we believe our wish would come true when we write it on the paper strip called "Tanzaku". :)

 ...but this festival is just to see the decoration, so we just need to walk, walk and walk...
This arcade was quite big...!

While walking we found typical Japanese festival shops..!

Gold fish catching!

 This is the fish my son caught for the first time!

But of course we cannot bring them back cuz I don't think fish can survive in the plane back to Singapore. :p

This one is Yo-yo catcher!

He brought it back but...we totally forgot to bring back to Singapore.

Akita - Kanto Matsuri Festival

After going through Akita sightseeings, we finally headed for Kanto Matsuri location.

Brochure

It was still a little early so we decided to have dinner first.

We went to one area which had a lot of food stores.

It's a typical Japanese food stores you can see in a festival. :)

I had Ramen~.

Cheap and nice!

We went to the reserved seats and wait for the festival to begin!

They were just marching like this for a long time..

Here's the video I've taken.

"Hayashi", the festival music brought us to festival atmosphere.

BTW, what's "Kanto Matsuri Festival"..?

From Wiki:

The Akita Kantō is a Japanese festival celebrated from 3–7 August in Akita City, Akita Prefecture in hope for a good harvest. Around two hundred bamboo poles five to twelve metres long, bearing twenty-four or forty-six lanterns, topped with gohei, and weighing up to fifty kilograms, are carried through the streets by night on the palms, foreheads, shoulders, or lower backs of the celebrants.[1] The festival is first referred to in a[who?] travel diary of 1789 The Road Where the Snow Falls.It is one of the main festivals in Tōhoku, along with the Tanabata festival in Sendai, the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri festival, and the Hanagasa Matsuri festival in Yamagata. The Akita Kantō festival was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1980.

It's getting dark and festival seems to start soon..

Finally lanterns are up!

They carry such a big lantern on a hand, a side of the hips, or a side of the shoulders.

 Or even on a forehead!

A lot of lanterns were coming on and on..

Even small kids can carry the lantern!

So cute!

Some of the lanterns are so high up!

Because those lanterns are carried by humans and they need balance to keep it straight.

Sometimes they lost balance and the lantern was falling down towards visitors' seats!

Here's some videos I've taken.

It was an enthusiastic Japanese festival.

Great experience.. :)

Aomori Nebuta Matsuri Festival

Aomori people were indeed powerful in Nebuta Matsuri Festival!
I felt a sort of Japanese soul there. :D

The moment we arrived in Aomori, we saw many people wearing colourful festival costumes.

By the way, what's Nebuta...?
We got this festival brochure.

Nebuta Festival brochure 2014

According to this brochure, Nebuta is...

It is said that the Aomori Nebuta Festival originated from Tourou Nagashi (Floating lanterns on a river) which is a ritual event in many nationwide Japanese festivals, Tanabata Matsuri (Festival of the Weaver). For floating lanterns we put a candle inside a wooden frame wrapped in Japanese paper. The lit candle illuminates the doll when it is released into a river or the sea. It is believed that this will drive away evil spirits and bring good luck and good health. In Aomori, lanterns built in the shape of figures inspired by legends or history became the prevalent form, whereas in Hiroaki a fan-shaped lanterns (known as Nebuta) Prevailed. At one time (Meiji era, 1868-1912), people used wood or bamboo to make the frame of the paper dolls and used a wax candle for light, but eventually they changed to wire and electricity. The lanterns of today have become bigger and much more detailed.

Here's wiki about Nebuta.

Anyway, it was stunning great festival I've never seen before!

From tourists' seats

Nebuta 

There were a lot of Nebuta coming one after another for almost 2 hours!

"Hayashi" festival music is another important part of Nebuta festival.

"Hayashi" usually consists of "Fue" (flutes) and "Taiko" (drums).

Wiki is here.

I took a video of Nebuta followed by "Hayashi" festival music troops. :)

And also, we can't miss "Naneto" (jumping dancers) in Nebuta festival.

Haneto

Their energetic jumping dance makes people dance with them, with "Rassera~, Rassera~!".

I also took a video of "Haneko".

We really had a great time in Aomori Nebuta Matsuri festival!