Japan History and Culture

The Chichibu Night Festival (Chichibu Yomatsuri)
Dates: December 2nd – 3rd
Places: Chichibu Shrine
City: 1-1, Banba-machi, Chichibu City, Saitama Prefecture
Chichibu Yomatsuri is a festival of Chichibu Shrine which has a history of more than 2,000 years. It is considered one of Japan’s top three festivals to feature floats, the others being Kyoto’s Gion Matsuri (July 1st-31st) and the Takayama Matsuri of Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture (April 14th and 15th, and October 9th and 10th). Its floats are ornately decorated with lanterns, tapestries and gilded wood carvings, and are accompanied by drum and flute music.

It is held every year on December 2nd and 3rd, with the main attraction of this festival takes place on the 3rd (the 2nd features an event held on the eve called Yoiyama). Two kasaboko which are large parasol-like objects decorated on top with weapons such as spears, and artificial flowers together with four yatai floats shaped like small houses are paraded through the city streets. In the afternoon, the floats are transformed into stages by pulling out wings on either side, where Kabuki plays are performed.

The most exciting scene of the festival unfolds on the evening of the 3rd when kasaboko and yatai floats, weighing 10-20 tons each and lit up with countless lanterns, climb up a steep slope with a mikoshi (a portable shrine). The spectators’ excitement reaches its peak at the powerful sound of the drums and flutes, and the unique festival shouts of ‘Ho-ryai! Ho-ryai!’ The fireworks illuminating the clear winter evening skies are another of the attractions of this festival.

The Sapporo Snow Festival (Sapporo Yuki Matsuri)

Dates: February 6 -12
City: Hokkaido, Sapporo Prefecture
The Sapporo Snow Festival, one of Japan’s largest winter events, attracts a growing number of visitors from Japan and abroad every year.
Every winter, about two million people come to Sapporo to see the hundreds of beautiful snow statues and ice sculptures which line Odori Park, the grounds at Satoland, and the main street in Susukino. For seven days in February, these statues and sculptures (both large and small) turn Sapporo into a winter dreamland of crystal-like ice and white snow.

The Sapporo Snow Festival was started in 1950, when high school students built six snow statues in Odori Park. It has since developed into a large, commercialized event, featuring spectacular snow and ice sculptures and attracting more than two million visitors from Japan and across the world

The Snow Festival is staged on three sites across Sapporo City: the Odori Site, Susukino Site and Sato Land Site.

The main site is the Odori Site in Sapporo’s centrally located 1.5 kilometer long Odori Park. The festival’s famous large snow sculptures, some more than 15 meters tall and 25 meters wide, are exhibited there. They are lit up daily until 22:00.
Besides about a dozen large snow sculptures, the Odori Site exhibits more than one hundred smaller snow and ice statues and hosts several concerts and events, many of which use the sculptures as their stage.
Great view over Odori Park can be enjoyed from the Sapporo TV Tower, which stands at the eastern end of the park and is opened from 9:00 to 22:30 during the festival (from 8:30 on the weekend). Admission to the top observatory deck costs 700 Yen per adult.

The Susukino Site, located in and named after Sapporo’s largest entertainment district, exhibits about one hundred ice sculptures. Susukino is located only one subway stop south of Odori Park. The ice sculptures are lit up daily until midnight (until 22:00 on the festival’s final day).

The less centrally located Sato Land Site in Sapporo Sato Land Park is a family oriented site, featuring slides and a maze made out of snow and ice. It also exhibits several more small snow sculptures, and is open daily from 9:00 to 17:00

Hanami is translated literally as “flower blooming”, but for the Japanese, it entails mainly the viewing of cherry blossoms. No matter the specific species of cherry trees, they are normally organized and clustered together in parks, temples, shrines, and other viewing areas. Doing so allows for a greater enhancement of cherry blossom viewing and festival activities. All across Japan, there are numerous parks and recreational areas that have cherry trees just for the festival. A majority of these parks are free to enter and activities to do inside the recreational areas are about the only costs involved with the viewing. This allows for the enjoyment of the Hanami by all walks of life.

During the festival, Japanese people will have a picnic under the blooming cherry blossoms. Hanami has been carried out for centuries and has become extremely popular. Overcrowding can become a problem in the best locations of cherry blossoms. Therefore, reservations are not uncommon during the Hanami festival. These are made well in advance of the festival and people must arrive early in the morning on the days of the festival just to guarantee a decent spot.

One of the interesting aspects of the Hanami festival is the cherry trees themselves. In all, there are over one hundred species of trees and vary by the number of pedals, color of the blossoms, leaves, time of blooming, and tree formation. Just as varied as the species are for the trees, opinions and reasons for the Hanami vary for every person in Japan.

The festival is extremely unique to Japan as other countries do not enjoy the cherry blossoms in manner as the Japanese.  For some Japanese, the festival represents an opportunity to see friends and family.  For others, it stands for relaxation or a chance to sip a few drinks.  Interestingly enough, it is not illegal for people to drink alcohol in the parks during the Hanami festival