Written by Stella
Tokyo is such an international metropolis where is the home of the traditional Japanese culture, but also have elements of modern Western cultures. By wandering in some areas in Tokyo where the youth gather such as Ikebukuro, it is quite easy to find some unique street performers, even foreign artists.
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| A foreign artist was playing the flute to promote his albums |
The genres of street performances are not limited to dancing and music, but some other kinds of shows that people may think they are extraordinary.
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| Actually I did not know what they were doing |
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| A 3D-paint on the floor |
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| They were using roadblocks as percussion instruments! |
Some people perform for money, but the most of street performers that I met in Ikebukuro were going on a show to promote themselves or some products like their own albums, which quite surprised me because I was under the impression that street performers play for tips, and this was what I saw in Calgary. Anyway, the street performances that I watched in Ikebukuro refreshed my thoughts on street performance and left a deep impression on me.
Other than the contemporary style of street performances, I also managed to go the Sanja Matsuri (三社祭), which is one of the largest festivals that take place in Tokyo. The festival was held at the Asakusa Shrine, and the website claims that more than one million people come to the festival every year, which I found it was very true that I could barely move in the crowd! I happened to see the most important part of the festival that people carried a portable shrine (神輿) to some places around the Asakusa Temple.
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| People were carrying the Mikoshi, the portable shrine |
There were some other traditional street performances that I met at the festival such as the Japanese traditional percussion “Taiko (太鼓)” performance. It was so much fun and I hope I would come to the festival again.
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| The Taiko Performance |
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| A man was riding a horse and imitating an ancient aristocrat |
During my stay in Tokyo, I experienced both styles of street performances and it is hard to say which one I prefer. However, I am determined that I enjoyed every street performance that I watched, and to me Japan is such a unique country that combines the contemporary and conventional parts of her so well that every person who visited Japan will never forget.
