Fall is festival season in Japan. Last week, there was a festival in my neighborhood. Each house hung lanterns at the entrance like the picture below.

More lanterns were hung along the path toward the Shinto shrine.

The festival in my neighborhood is one of the traditional, typical festivals, but there are some unique ones all over Japan.

For example, Sanja Matsuri in Asakusa, Tokyo is very famous. The festival has histrionically been associated with Japanese mafias called yakuza. They show off their full-body-tattoos in public when they carry portable shrines. You can see what it looks like here.

I used to live in Nagano Prefecture, and Suwa City hosts another unique festival called Onbashira. Once every seven years, the festival is held. Men ride on huge logs as they slide down slopes. It's quite dangerous because it's hard to keep valance, so some people get injured or die. You can watch how dangerous it is here.

This year, two people died from the Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri. This festival is also one of the most dangerous festivals, which is held in Kishiwada City, Osaka Prefecture every year. Teams of men pull huge wooden floats called danjiri and compete to see how fast they can make sharp turns. They sometimes crash the walls or tip over. You can watch the scene here.

Compared to these crazy festivals, my neighborhood one is very safe and I'm grateful for that.

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