Even though? - I had to go into a river to wash myself so I could go home.
They do? - Yeah! - Wow I wanna see that!
Don don! Hey guys on Ask Japanese, it's the Japanese summer festival season and
this season is absoltely amazing because there are lots of people coming together
celebrating their culture, region
celebrating deities, all kinds of things and that's why summer in Japan
is so exciting. This time we're gonna go and ask Japanese people what summer festivals
there are that you shouldn't miss and how to enjoy those amazing
summer festivals. Let's go and Ask Japanese.
We are asking about fun festivals here in Japan. Know any?
Where are you from? - Nagano. - Tokyo.
Is there anything in Nagano? - When it's time to plant the rice
we come together to celebrate the "rice planting festival."
So adding the rice seeds to the watered rice fields?
Yeah, we plant the rice seedlings.
We plant the rice seedlings and harvest them in autumn. To make the planting easier
we will all stomp the soil and plow it with our feet.
That's our festival.
You stomp on the field? - Spread water and stomp in the mud
We stomp around and turn the soil into plantable ground.
Like that. - So you meet on someone's field. - We do.
The highest person of a house, calls all relatives in
It's more of a family festival? - It is.
Only close relatives of a small area.
How many people come together? - Around 60
That's quite a lot of mud stompers there.
Yes it is, we all have fun doing it together.
After all that work, do you eat or drink to celebrate?
Yes we all
have rice balls for lunch. That break is one of the fun thing we look forward to.
It's a bit between work and festival. - It is.
If it's not fun, you won't get 60 people helping. - That's right.
Have you done it before? - Every year in primary school.
Any fun stories to share?
I once fell, ruined my clothes and my mum shouted at me.
Doesn't everyone go home covered in mud? - We all do.
We have to clean ourselves in a river. - No cleaning place there? - None
Hehe. - Even though you came to help? - Yeah
we have to cleanse in a river or we can't go inside our house
What's fun at this festival?
We add the seedlings in a line
and seeing them all stand there, from afar, it looks beautiful.
All in a beautiful line, that's visible then.
That moment everyone is satisfied. - How interesting.
We are interviewing everyone about festivals. Do you know any?
We have a festival at our school. Famous people go there.
A lot. - At your university?
Famous people go there? - Japanese TV personalities come
Sounds fun. So if you wanna meet these famous people...
you have to go to the festivals? - yeah
Many decides to come because of famous people's speeches.
Do you have to register? - Sometimes you do
The more famous the more difficult is it to get tickets. Maybe even a fee
to be paid.
And that at a university festival!
It sounds more like a show. - It is.
At one university, Kanna Hashimoto came
and it was full with fans, nobody could enter
Those interested in the university couldn't go because of the fans?
Too many fans, I heard that.
Your university does that. - We do. We have famous voice actors coming
Nice, so you can look forwards to meeting famous voice actors?
Every year someone else comes
And we always look forward to who comes
Sounds fun. Students and visitors must have a good time
I wish I had been to a Japanese university.
Do you go to school festivals?
I do! Every festival is different at universities here
I look forward to it.
What are common things to find at a Japanese school festival?
Ghost houses are common!
But also food stalls are always there.
Yakisoba, okonomiyaki - And potatoes
Student's food, ghost houses and maybe maid cafes?
Yeah some do that.
Recently boys dress up as maids instead
Boys? - Girls don't like doing that anymore. - That wasn't the image that I had in mind....
No way! - Yeah boys do it in a funny way though. - Well
are they cute? - They are!
In that case I am ok. I was wondering if they were just taking the mickey.
They are cute. - Skinny boys do it. - So pretty boys dress up
as maids? - Yeah. - Wow I NEED to see that! I wanna see that
They are often sporty and part of the baseball team.
Skinny and tall?
I need to see that. I think all girls will take lots of pictures. - They will also take pics with them.
Sounds so fun!
This maid cafe is different from my initial idea but seems fun
and ghost houses, food and?
Some places have an even higher quality and make jet coasters and such
What? Jet coster? Can you make them?
They are handmade rollercoasters
they seem like they will break easily but
some schools make them. It's super popular.
That seems scary... handmade rollercoasters...
They use boxes, wood and such.
What?
Sounds dangerous but fun. Would you ride one?
We would love to! - With friends
Thank you so much.
So those are some of the festivals. There are some really rural festivals
I would really like to go and see them. I hope some of the places will invite us to go
so we can check out more festivals for you guys. Are there any exciting festivals
in your country, that we should not miss? Let us know!
in the comments down below. Would be nice to find out what festivals there are. I hope you have already
subscribed and if you haven't would be really nice to have you on our team. So don't forget to do that and
leave a like on the way out. Catch you soon bye!