Kobe is home to one of only a few “China towns” in Japan. As such, it’s no surprise that the Chinese New Year is a big deal.
The festivities in the district of Nankin-machi include a dragon parade, a lion dance, and martial arts demonstrations. There will also be stalls selling Chinese food and (more traditional) Chinese goods. While is starts on the 12th, there is a gap until the 17th when the festivities resume – so there won’t be any performances from the 13th to the 16th.
Like the head office in Osaka, the Hiroshima branch of the Japan Mint has a garden of late blossoming yaezakura cherry trees. The garden boasts 63 multi petaled varieties of sakura and 219 trees. Regular old somei yoshino cherry blossoms […]
Each year for one week in mid April, the Osaka Mint Bureau opens their grounds for ‘Sakura Torinuke” – cherry blossom viewing. The particular variety for which the mint grounds are famous for is yaezakura – a slightly later flowering […]
The Takayama Spring Festival/Sanno Matsuri takes place at Hie Shrine in Takayama City, Gifu – not to be confused with the festival and shrine of the same name in Tokyo. The festival features processions of large wheeled floats, mikoshi (shoulder […]
Celebrating the accession ceremony day of the temple’s deity – Emperor Kanmu in 781 in Nara, this annual festival features an opportunity to see Geiko (the geisha of Kyoto) and Maiko, their apprentices. The prayer ceremony takes place on the […]
