People from northeastern Japan have jointly showcased their region’s traditional summer festivals at the World Expo in Osaka.
The Tohoku Kizuna Festival was established to help the region recover from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. The annual event brings together six of Tohoku’s major summer festivals and has been hosted in turn by its six prefectures.
People from Tohoku held a special version of this event at the Expo arena over the weekend to express their gratitude for the domestic and international support they received for their rebuilding efforts. Their performance was also aimed at showing the world how each prefecture has recovered.
On Sunday, 550 people representing the six festivals paraded through the arena.
Those from Akita Prefecture hoisted 12-meter-long bamboo poles, each weighing 50 kilograms and adorned with paper lanterns. They balanced them on their shoulders and foreheads, to loud applause from spectators.
Dancers from Yamagata Prefecture performed while waving straw hats decorated with red flowers.
Participants from Fukushima Prefecture marched through the venue carrying a giant, 12-meter-long straw sandal.
AloJapan.com