Festival
Pick Up Stories
Golden Week, Japan’s Mega Holiday [CULTURE Family Festival]
Spring is here. And in Japan that means warmer weather, cherry blossoms, and rainy season. But, before the rainy season takes hold and shrou...Read More
Ie Island Easter Lily Festival [Festival]
April 27th marks the start of the 27th Annual Yuri Matsuri, the Ie lsland Lily Festival, showcasing more than one million teppoyuri’s, or Ea...Read More
Higashi Village’s Azalea Flower Festival [Festival]
Higashi Village has few claims-to-fame here on the island. It has the smallest populated municipal region in mainland Okinawa, with a popula...Read More
2014.10.18
Zakimi Gusuku Dori Fureai Festival set for Sunday [Festival]
The Zakimi Gusuku Dori Fureai Festival takes place in the area around Zakimi Castle Ruins on Sunday, with the path to the main gate of Zakimi Castle Ruins the event site. On the st...
2014.10.18
Street performances promote Urasoe City revitalization [Festival]
More than a dozen performers and groups will take to stages at five locations across Urasoe City this weekend, staging the 3rd Street Performance Festival designed to focus on prom...
2014.10.17
Bullfighting spices up Uruma Festival [Festival]
The bulls will be running Saturday at the 9th Uruma Festival’s Bullfighting Tournament. The Uruma Festival is a two-day event Saturday and Sunday 9 a.m. ~ 9 p.m., but the Bullfight...
2014.10.17
50’s theme marks weekend beach festival [Festival]
The 3rd Azama SunSun Beach Festival is set for Saturday, ready for a typhoon-weary crowd coming to enjoy the ‘Back to 50’s Okinawa!’ theme. Admission is free, including for the mu...
2014.10.14
Story of a rope; Naha Tsunahiki [Festival]
The Naha Tsunahiki or Tug-of-War rope is more than 200 meters (650 feet) long this year, weighs 90,500 pounds, and is 1.56 meters in diameter. It takes a lot of straw to create a 4...
2014.10.14
Naha tug-of-war invites everyone to pull their weight this Sunday [Festival]
By Bill Charles For newcomers to Okinawa – and for those who’ve procrastinated through the years – there’s still a chance to be part of a Guinness Book of World Records record! The...
2014.10.11
Junglefest brings adventure to training center [Festival]
For the first time in more than 15 years, Camp Gonsalves and the Jungle Warfare Training Center will open its gates to Japanese nationals to attend Junglefest 2014. Festival partic...
2014.10.10
Supertyphoon Vongfong nears Okinawa, forces cancellation of most weekend events [Festival]
Supertyphoon Vongfong barreling towards Okinawa and on course to Japan has prompted over this weekend has forced organizers to cancel or postpone most of the scheduled events. Acco...
2014.10.05
Noguni Soukan Fest postponed to this weekend [Festival]
Noguni Soukan Festival was postponed to Otcober 11th and 12th because of expected inclement weather caused by the approaching typhoon PHANFONE. It is a delectable Okinawan v...
2014.10.02
Kinser Festival cancelled; Hot Chelle Rae, Trey Songz concerts still on [Festival]
The Kinser Festival scheduled for today and tomorrow, Oct. 4 & 5, on Camp Kinser has been cancelled. However, the Hot Chelle Rae and Trey Songz concerts will still be held in ...
2014.10.02
Open air music fest brings top names to Yomitan [Festival]
A combination of Okinawa and mainland Japan’s top musicians are descending on Yomitan this weekend to stage a two-day open-air music festival being tagged “What a Wonderful World!!...
2014.09.25
Tropa 2014 entertains at Ginowan Tropical Beach [Festival]
The official event name is Tropi DE Music Party, but everyone is calling this weekend’s program simply Tropa. The two-day music event at one of the popular beaches in Okinawa, Trop...
2014.09.25
Tomigusuku hosting Okinawa Motor Sports Festival [Festival]
The Okinawa Motor Sports Festival, which brings together all kinds of motor sports, takes place at the Chura Sun Beach Okinawa in Toyosaki Tomigusuku City on Saturday and Sunday. T...
2014.09.18
Okinawa Beach Festa celebrating Saturday in Umisora Park [Festival]
There’s a quaint little beach nestled near the heart of downtown Naha City, inside Naminoue Umisora Park, and it’s celebrating this weekend with a beach festival. The Okinawa Beach...
2014.09.18
Traditional Eisa plays out Saturday in Nago [Festival]
There’s still traditional Eisa in Nago City, and the Nago Youth Eisa Festival is coming Saturday to the 21st Century Forest Park in Miyazato, Nago City. Youth groups and the Junior...
2014.09.11
P.O.D. headlines the Camp Hansen Festival [Festival]
A platinum-selling Nu Metal Band and a longtime Okinawa favorite are this year’s showstoppers at the Camp Hansen Festival coming up this weekend. The 2014 Camp Hansen Festival will...
2014.09.10
Three-day Tomarin Festa kicks off Friday [Festival]
Music is the heart of any festival, and Tomarin Festa beginning its three-day run Friday is promising the very best of jazz, as well as Okinawan and Japanese tunes, as well as a sm...
2014.09.05
A ‘first’ for Okinawa: a T-shirt Festival [Festival]
Ready for this? An admission-free T-shirt Festival is coming to Yomitan on Saturday and Sunday. Everyone has T-shirts. Everyone wears T-shirts. They’re so easy and relaxing because...
2014.09.05
Itoman event is year’s first big tug-of-war [Festival]
Itoman’s tug-of war is executing the ritual of praying for a bumper crop harvest, the productiveness of grain and a perfect state of health. Monday, thousands of people will pull t...
2014.09.05
Harvest moon leads to Chushu no Utage [CULTURE Festival]
By Bill Charles For many, the events of next Monday equate to a mid-autumn celebration party, when the harvest moon is full and everyone is ready to celebrate. Monday the 8th is Au...
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