Hello, I am Yoshi Tanaka of NILS Japanese language school. Today’s topic is about the three largest and most famous festivals in Tohoku region: 1) the Tanabata Festival [七夕祭り] in Sendai, 2) The Nebuta Festival [ねぶた祭り] in Aomori and 3) the Kanto Festival [竿灯祭り] in Akita.

The Tanabata Festival is ofen called the Star Festival [星祭]. August 7th, the day of the festival, is said to be the only time when a pair of lovers, stars separated by the Milky Way, can see each other. During the festival, people in Sendai decorate the city with hundreds of bunches of bamboo stems.



The Nebuta Feestival attracts over three million people annually from August 2nd to the 7th. It’s heare you can see about 60 gigantic nebuta, colorful paper floats with effigies of warriors illuminated from the inside, a spectacular sight.



In Akita, people creat about 180 kanto–bamboo poles 10 meters long to which nine horizontal poles with 40 lanterns are attached. The shape of kanto poles represents ears of rice, and they’re used to pray for abundant crops.





August 21st News, from NILS Japanese language school.