Japanese Summer Featival Nagoya Features Society and Customs

Summer Festival in Japan

There are several things that indicate that summer has come to Japan. For example, Japanese people have to go through the gloomy and depressing rainy season before they enjoy the bright summer sunshine. Thus, the onset of the rainy season, which is officially announced by news media, makes people excited about the summer being almost there. Other examples include summer vegetables and fruit (e.g., watermelon) on sale at supermarkets, morning glories, the buzz of mosquitoes, and media reports on the first typhoon in the nearby ocean.

Summer festival and fireworks are also one of the unique summer indicators. Here are some pictures taken (in the first week of June) at some summer festival, which is one of the earliest summer festivals in Japan. Although pictures of magnificent fireworks could not be taken, the following pictures will show you some unique characteristics of Japanese summer and culture in general.

The first three pictures show floats which are carried by men on the street. The doll gadgets each on its top stage perform some kind of short skit to the live music played by young and old men aboard the bottom of the float. These floats were exhibited at the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi prefecture.

The above picture illustrates a storehouse specifically made for such a tall float. You can easily imagine that these floats are treated as treasure. You can see a man wearing happi (English: a kind of kimono specifically for a festival) on the right corner.

The following pictures are street vendors lined up on both sides of the narrow street, where floats are carried. You can see a lady and a girl wearing yukata (English: summer kimono).

This picture was taken around 6 pm, just before it got dark. At night, this street is more crowded.

This street vendor sells banana chocolate candies (i.e., banana is chocolate-coated). The vendor behind, which has a yellow banner with red letters, sells deep-fried sausage.

  This picture shows a traditional Japanese entertainment called shateki. (English: a shooting game). You use a toy gun to shoot down the targets (e.g., lighters, stuffed animals, and candies) arranged on the shelves. If you can get the targets down (actually down, not just being shot), you can obtain them.

The above vendor makes and sells takoyaki (English: octopus balls).


This picture shows a vendor which sells a variety of things: sake (English: Japanese fermented rice wine), kushikatsu (English: deep-fried meet in stick), yakisoba (English: fried egg noodles) and doteni (English: miso-flavored beef). As you see, you can sit and eat your ordered food on a table behind this vendor.