Arab News Japan

TOKYO: After a two year ‘pandemic’ break, Nakano Central Park, Tokyo, welcomed the return of the Bon Odori Festival, a centuries-old Buddhist tradition, to honor their ancestors.

The festival is normally held over three days in the summer all around Japan.

Vendors, musicians and dancers, all dressed in brightly colored summer kimono (yukata) performed gracefully as the greatly reduced audience watched from behind their masks due to Tokyo’s seventh wave where more than 30,000 new infections per day have been recorded this week alone.

The park’s colorful atmosphere was helped by an array of vendors selling popular festival food and drink while the audience, many of whom cannot return to their hometowns this year, could enjoy melodies from different regions around Japan.

Nakano district was planning to break the world record for the number of dancers of Bon Odori, but have decided to postpone their attempt until next year. The Guinness record to beat is now over 2872 people, which was achieved in Osaka, Japan, on September 9, 2017.