Last weekend, Liam and I got an eyeful of both the cute and beautiful aspects of Japanese culture when we attended Furusato Matsuri, a massive festival at the Tokyo Dome.
The Furusato Matsuri is an annual two-week event which features food vendors and performers from throughout Japan. It’s basically a ‘Festival of festivals,’ bringing together into one central location the best of the past year’s events.
It’s a huge, huge event. I knew it would be big, but I wasn’t quite prepared for how big. The entire floor of the dome was filled with either food and craft booths or performance space.
I gambled and paid an additional fee so my son and I could enter the sitting section directly above the performers. Since I don’t speak or read Japanese – and the clerk helping me didn’t know English – I wasn’t sure when I made the decision if it was a wise one.
Turns out it was well worth the extra yen. We found seats behind an empty row, so both of us had great views of the entertainment below.
We began with beauty: A kimono-clad drum company set the dome shaking with fantastic rhythm. I’d have been happy to listen to them for an hour but they turned out to be the warm up act for the cute explosion that came next. Unwittingly, I’d managed to arrive at the right time, on the right day, for a dance-off between mascots from four or five prefectures. Perfect for my 4-year-old companion.
Talk about cute. Groups of 5 or 6 mascots at a time were paraded onto the floor. These were some sweet-looking creatures. Big eyes. Bigger heads. Some were sort-of recognizable creatures. Is that a bear or a raccoon? In a wig? Why does that bunny have sunglasses on? Others were more abstract. Pirate, vegetable or dragon? Who cares! Each took their turn to strut their stuff to cheerful pop music that had the entire crowd bouncing along.
These characters knew how to get their groove on. Who wouldn’t want to see a big, green, plush tree and a big, blue eggplant (?) spin in circles on their heads? Group after group showed that they could perform intricate choreography. Well, almost. If someone fell down, the other characters helped them back up. The crowd — us included — loved every minute.
We took a food break and plunged into the crowds to peruse the booths. Liam had ice cream from the Hokkaido region and I had tasty fried cheese. (Ordered almost blindly. I picked a fried thing out of a row of fried things. Could have ended up being pork or chicken….)
Later, in the dessert aisle, I bought what turned out to be a delicious strawberry filled cake. Liam insisted on a yellow cake displayed right next to the strawberry one. His filling? Something fishy that tasted a little like clam chowder.
We returned to the seating section where it was time to experience more beauty. The first performance featured both dancers and a giant float in a mini-parade that made numerous circles of the stage floor. The dancers’ style was free, easy, and rhythmic, reminiscent of Native American performances I’ve seen at U.S. powwows. The massive float was pulled and pushed by a strong male crew. The dome’s lights were lowered and the scenes portrayed on both sides of the float glowed. I can just imagine how magical it must have been at night when this parade took place at its original festival.
Next, a large troupe, mainly female, marched out. Their energy was palpable. They danced in unison, in tidy rows, first to traditional music — it sounded Chinese to me — and then did several sets to techno-pop music. (I think they may have out-danced even the mascots.) A few men performed alongside them, as well.
I was having a blast and would have gladly stayed for many more hours, but my young date for the day was getting restless. He agreed to one more cruise through the crowds on the dome’s floor but it was clear he needed to get out into the fresh air. More cuteness and beauty was waiting for us outside. We stumbled onto what appeared to be a convention of adorable Harajuku girls and a lovely outdoor lighting display. But that’s a story for another day…