Right outside Shinjuku Station in Tokyo’s very alive, colorful and cultural district of the city named after the station – Shinjuku. The city streets are alive with color not in the same way that New York’s Time Square and London’s Picadilly Circus are, with their brightly lit colored billboard signs, bars and restaurants on every corner that are open until the wee hours of the morning.
I randomly came across the annual Shinjuku Eisa Festival by accident as I was walking through Tokyo’s streets this past summer. This colorful festival has all kinds of flavors from Okinawa – with dancing, drumming, and of course, food. Eisa is a form of folk dance from the southern islands, and is usually performed by young men and women accompanied by singing, dancing and drumming, and even folk songs played on the sanshin. Eisa was traditionally performed around obon to honour ancestor’s spirits, but these days it’s just another excuse to celebrate.
The parade featured dancers swaying across the Shinjuku roads wearing eye-catching, bright costumes, and playing portable taiko drums. The matsuri had roughly over 20 dance troupes from all over the country (Okinawa and Tohoku included) who took part in this noisy, intoxicating celebration. Thousands of people watched the procession along with me on the already busy streets of Shinjuku. Note that the sushi and noodle bars are fabulous in this part of the city.
Below is a video I shot during the performance:
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Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
