International cultural festival on tap in Suita
A fair is being held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, on May 11 and 12 to offer various cultural experiences from around the world. Suita International Plaza 2013 will run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day....
View ArticleAoi Festival will be held Wednesday in Kyoto
The Aoi Festival, one of the three largest in Kyoto, will take place Wednesday. The highlight, a parade of more than 500 people in elegant costumes from the Heian Period, will leave the Kyoto Imperial...
View ArticleMusic students to hold concert series in Kyoto
Students from music schools abroad and in Japan will perform at the Kyoto International Music Students Festival 2013 from May 25 to 29. The performances will start at 6:30 p.m. except May 26, when it...
View Article64th Kyoto Takigi noh performance to be held
The 64th Kyoto Takigi noh performance will take place from 5:30 p.m. on the first weekend of June in Heian Jingu Shrine in Kyoto. Featured are the plays “Tamanoi,” “Hanjo,” “Ochanomizu” and “Koi no...
View ArticleFree concert on tap in Otsu’s Biwako Hall
Music lovers can enjoy a free short concert by four trumpet players from the Kyoto Symphony Orchestra and a pianist from 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. June 10 in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture. They will play pieces by...
View ArticleRice festival at Fushimi Inari Grand Shrine
Fushimi Inari Grand Shrine in Kyoto will hold a rice seedling festival Monday in which women in traditional clothing from the Heian Period will dance and other women in farming outfits and hats will...
View ArticleEnjoy a Zimbabwe lecture-concert combo
A lecture and concert related to Zimbabwe will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Nagoya on Saturday. The lecture, to be conducted in English, covers the culture and social problems of the country....
View ArticleKyoto temples ready for purification ceremony
Numerous temples in Kyoto will hold the traditional purification ritual known as “Nagoshi no Harae” on June 30. People walk through a huge wreath made of miscanthus to atone for their sins in the first...
View ArticleYoshino temple to hold pair of ceremonies
Visitors to Kimpusenji Temple in Yoshino, Nara Prefecture, will be able to enjoy two ceremonies next Friday: “Renge-e,” the offering of lotus flowers to the temple’s principal image, and “kaeru tobi”...
View ArticleFree movie at ethnology museum in Suita
The National Museum of Ethnology in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, will have a free screening July 13 of a film worked on by people from Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia. “The World is Big and...
View ArticleHealth and cucumbers ritual at Kyoto temple
A cucumber purification ceremony will be held July 21 and 22 at Gochisan Rengeji Temple in Kyoto, where participants will write their name, age and ailment on a cucumber, rub their body with it and...
View ArticleForeigners invited to Toyonaka Bon festival
Foreigners are welcome to experience the traditional “bon odori” folk dance in Toyonaka, Osaka, from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. on July 30. Participation is free and participants need to bring socks. Only 15...
View ArticleMake 1,000 visits in one at Atago Shrine
For Shinto worshippers who visit Atago Shrine in Kyoto from the night of July 31 to the morning of Aug. 1, that one visit is said to be equivalent to 1,000. The first special ritual of the night will...
View ArticleFamed Nara Great Buddha to be cleansed
The Great Buddha at Todaiji Temple in Nara will go through its annual cleansing and purification ceremony Wednesday, and visitors will be allowed to watch the procedure from 7:30 a.m. About 120 monks...
View ArticleBonfires to set Kyoto mountainsides alight
Huge bonfires will be lit on five mountains in Kyoto next Friday, the last day of the Bon festival, to speed the spirits of ancestors on their way. They will be set alight at 8 p.m. on Daimonji, at...
View ArticleNara temple to hold annual Jizoe ceremony
Gangoji Temple in Nara will hold its annual Jizoe ceremony next Friday and Saturday. Such ceremonies are held for the repose of ancestors and to pray for global peace, the prosperity of families and...
View ArticleKyoto temple presents 1,000 lights memorial
Saturday is the second day of the Sento (1,000 lights) memorial service at Adashino Nenbutsuji Temple in Kyoto. Numerous candles will be lit between 5:30-8:30 p.m. in honor of thousands of deceased...
View ArticleForeigners invited to help carry festival shrines
The Nishinomiya City International Association is seeking foreigners who want to carry “mikoshi” portable shrines and board special boats during the Nishinomiya Festival on Sept. 23. Applications must...
View ArticleStreet performers to act at Osaka festival
The Tempozan World Performance Festival will take place in Osaka between Sept. 14 and 16. Visitors to the festival, which runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, can watch 36 groups of street performers....
View Article‘Rakugo’ show, shamisen workshop in English
A “rakugo” comic storytelling performance and a shamisen workshop, both in English, will be held for free Sept. 23 in Osaka as part of the Kansai Music Conference. The workshop will start at noon and...
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