文化の日

Last Monday was 文化の日 (Culture Day). (You can read a very short FAQ that I wrote about Culture Day if you click here).

On 文化の日 (Culture Day), the Emperor awards medals to people who have contributed to Japanese society that year. My wife’s grandfather was a volunteer firefighter in Tokyo for over 50 years when he was young. On his 50th year with the Tokyo Volunteer Fire Department, he received a medal from the Emperor on 文化の日 (Cuture Day).

There are also many festivals in Japan on 文化の日 (Culture Day)…東京時代祭 (Tokyo Era Festival), 流鏑馬 (Horseback Archery), etc.

We went to the 東京時代祭 (Tokyo Era Festival). This festival is every year on 文化の日 (Culture Day) at 浅草 (Asakusa, Tokyo).

This is a fun festival with the main part being a large parade of people in costumes representing different eras in Tokyo’s history.
There’s Samurai, Geisha, traditional Japanese dancers, U.S. Commodore Perry and his crew and many more.

Here are some of the many photos and videos that I took (if you wanna see all of the videos I took, they’re on My YouTube Page. Click here):

This sign says 「東京時代祭」 (Tokyo Era Festival):

The 天狗 (Tengu):

歌舞伎 (Kabuki):

神輿 (Portable Shrine):

Common people, including children, brought huge stones across the country to 東京 (Tokyo) (called 江戸 (Edo) back then) to build the Edo Castle:

Japanese firefighters:

七福神 (Seven gods of fortune):

芸者 (Geisha):

This group represents Commodore Perry and his crew of the U.S. Navy who, with his fleet of black ships, forced Japan to open up and trade with the West:

At the end of the parade, they carried this sign to promote Japan’s campaign to host the 2016 Olympics. It said 「日本だから、できる。　あたらしいオリンピック！」 (“We’re Japan, so we can do it. A new Olympics!”):