Yokohama Street Performance Festival is Great!
Devon Lord-Moncrief
Japan has many major cities to visit, with Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto among the biggest and most popular for tourists; however, for those willing to step outside of Tokyo, Yokohama has many fantastic things to do and see.
Chief among them is the Noge Daidogei, the annual street festival held in the city. For those who wish to get a perfect taste of Yokohama culture and excitement, the Noge Daidogei is an event that can’t be missed!
A Brief History of Street Festivals in Yokohama
The Noge Daidogei is an annual street festival that brings a wide variety of performers and activities to the people of Yokohama. The event first began in 1986 with the Noge-Street Performance. Twenty groups, totalling twenty-six performers, participated in the festival’s first appearance. Today, roughly one hundred groups worldwide travel to Yokohama to perform for over a million spectators.
Yokohama hosts a street festival to boost its local economy and raise interest in the city. The festival also celebrates Yokohama’s culture and history and helps attract international visitors. Its nearly forty-year run shows its quality, popularity, and staying power. Spending time outdoors, enjoying fresh air, and watching live art with others is a great way to enjoy the weekend.
Here Are Some of the Things To See at the Noge Daidogei
The street festival appeals to everyone by offering a mix of music, dance, performing arts, and more. Yokohama’s festivals are world-class, unlike smaller events with just food trucks, local vendors, and loud music. They showcase classical Japanese culture and feature modern performances too. These are just a few things visitors can enjoy if they attend in person.
Juggling Acts
Anyone who’s ever attempted to juggle in their spare time knows how challenging it is. Even at a novice level, Juggling requires advanced eye-hand coordination and a steadfast determination not to give up. Countless dropped balls, fumbled exchanges, and not getting the proper height per toss can be a demoralizing experience.
So to watch a troupe of expert jugglers not just juggle well, but exceptionally well, is a feat that should not be taken lightly. Juggling may seem like an unassuming skill, but when things like lit torches are tossed high into the air, it becomes evident very quickly how much talent it requires.
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Live Theater Performances
Kabuki theater is one of Japan’s most famous forms of art and entertainment, having existed for hundreds of years. The heart of kabuki theater lies in its iconic attire, its actors’ hyper-exaggerated performances, and the kumadori makeup accompanying.
A kabuki show often tells stories about history, heroes, love, or revenge. The actors use big movements, strong voices, and music to make the story more dramatic and fun. The stage is also special—it can spin, rise, or have secret doors that surprise the audience.
Kabuki is taken very seriously in Japan as it is a staple of its cultural heritage, regardless of how large or small it may be. Not to mention, seeing live performances of kabuki is one of the quintessentially Japanese experiences a person could hope for, making it an excellent addition to street festivals.
Acrobatic Stunts
Simple acrobatics, like juggling, may seem unremarkable until you try them yourself. Moves like somersaults, flips, handstands, and human pyramids take serious skill. They require strength, balance, and dexterity to perform smoothly. Holding someone overhead while keeping them steady is no easy task. These skills deserve genuine respect!
Magic Tricks
Witnessing live magic can be a fantastic and captivating experience for younger audience members. So much more than just card tricks, live magic can dazzle, surprise, and thrill audience members to no end. It can produce objects from thin air, make animals disappear, and perform seemingly impossible physical stunts—the list goes on. Live magic is an art unto itself, and street magicians deserve all the respect in the world for their craft.
Why should you check out Yokohama’s street festival?
If the list of awesome things you can see there didn’t inspire you already, take a moment to consider how nice it would be not to have to worry about keeping up with train timetables, making café reservations, and choreographing a full day in Tokyo. Instead, catch a train into Yokohama, grab a nice lunch, and just chill outside, watching tons of live art.
Yokohama’s festivals are celebrations of Japanese culture, which makes for the perfect means of enjoying their trip if someone is already visiting Japan in the first place. Have you been to a street festival before? Please let us know in the comments below! We would love to hear what you liked best about it!
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