Here is a video about the Tagata Fertility Festival, also known as the Hounen Matsuri and the Penis Festival,m whicih takes place at Tagata Jinja which is near Komaki City…about 30 minutes north of Nagoya where I live. While there, I ran into another Japundit contributor, Samurai Dave.

Kinryu-no-Mai or Golden Dragon Dance is performed every year in Asakusa, Tokyo to celebrate the founding of Senso-ji Temple.
On March 18, 628 AD two fisherman found a small gold Buddhist statue in the river. Supposedely, a Golden Dragon appeared in the sky to mark the event. A temple was built for the statue and Asakusa […]

The Tokyo Fire Department puts on a blazing show

Japanese Firefighters of the past - Hikeshi - show their stuff
Dezomeshiki - it’s any five year old boy’s dream come in the form of blaring fire engines, fires, firefighters, and piercing fire sirens. Dezomeshiki is an annual event where the Tokyo Fire Department calls together all of […]

Not to be confused with the summer lantern festival, the Toro Roman (灯籠浪漫) festival is a welcome burst of colour and winter warmth in the old town of Yamaga, Kumamoto prefecture.
You can read an excellent write-up of both summer and winter festivals here (and the same page in Japanese here). I’m just here […]

Every year, the city of Nagasaki celebrates the Chinese New Year with a spectacular array of bright and colourful lanterns. The Lantern Festival began this year on February 7 and continues until the 21st.
Nagasaki, which for a couple of hundred years of the Tokugawa shogunate was one of the few entry points for trade in […]

Sneak attack by Setsubun Devils?

Setsubun Devils enjoying the sudden snowstorm in Tokyo
A sudden snowstorm swept in silently and swiftly during the early morning hours in Tokyo this Feb. 3. Three centimeters of snow covered the capital in a fairly heavy snowfall. Train services were disrupted, traffic backed up, flights were cancelled, and at least […]

whilst surfing the interwebs, i came across this website
pimped out japanese 18 wheelers, oh yeah!
enjoy

East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) has reportedly rejected posters promoting a local “naked festival” because they feel many women would be uncomfortable looking at the naked men in on the posters.
“As sexual harassment becomes more of a problem, the standards for displaying posters in public spaces are becoming stricter,” a representative of the […]

Here are some highlights from the Asakusa Samba Festival that I reported on here.

A man from Kagoshima, Japan is in custody for being a serial festival molester.
After his arrest, the main told police, “I have habitually visited festivals around the country and molested women. I preyed on women who were trapped in crowds.”
Kotani was in Kyoto on Tuesday to watch floats parade during the time-honored Gion Festival. […]

Just got word that Japundit contributor David “Samurai Dave” Weber has submitted the video below to Current TV. Submissions that garner enough votes are broadcast on TV in the U.S., so if you are a fan of David’s contributions here or if you would simply like to help out, click this link and vote (registration […]

Saturday will be Kodomo no hi in Japan. Despite the name (”Children’s Day”), it’s mainly a celebration for boys - the girls have Hina Matsuri in March.
So around this time, households with male offspring traditionally hoist koi nobori - huge carp-shaped streamers/banners - in celebration.
Seen all over Japan, koi nobori are often huge and […]

The following is a movie taken at the mudslinging festival reported on here.

Dairokuten-no-Hadaka Matsuri: Mudslinging Fun!

Would you believe this is a sacred spiritual ritual?
It’s a cold day in late February as men young and old clad only in thin white loincloths stand stoically shivering knee-deep in freezing cold water. At a signal they all rush each other flinging handfuls of mud at one another. They […]

A picture that tells a thousand words. AP reports that a Buddhist monk, pictured above, is walking barefoot over fire for a ritual ceremony called Chichibu fire festival in Nagatoro. The festival is supposed to herald the coming of spring.
Isn’t there a less painful way to herald in the Spring? Photo Courtesy of AFP/Yoshikazu Tsuno.

Kindergarten pupils participate in a bean-throwing ceremony to drive away evils and bring good luck during the annual Setsubun festival at Tokyo’s Sensoji Temple, 03 February 2007.
Plans for Japan’s first “baby hatch,” where parents can drop off unwanted infants anonymously, are suffering labour pains as the country struggles with its declining birth rate.(Photography courtesy of […]

The New Zeland Herald is reporting that an ancient Japanese ‘Naked Men’s Festival’ where men loin-clothes vie for sacred sticks turned tragic when a participant later died.
Video of the event is here. The accident in question is not visible on the video. It took a little bit to load for me so you may […]

Setsubun Festival celebrated with a fanfare of bean-throwing exorcisms

A pair of Japanese Devils terrorize kindergarteners
Once again devils have been driven forth from the homes and workplaces of the Japanese with a hand-full of tossed beans in the age-old rite known as Setsubun. Setsubun, which occurs on February 3, is kind of like Halloween, New […]