Arab News Japan

TOKYO: The lifting of COVID restrictions and the opening of Japan’s borders has seen a large influx of foreigners for the first time at the Spring Love Festival, which is held on October 15 and 16 in the Yoyogi Park area of Tokyo.

Spring Love is seen as a celebration of good humor during the gloomy autumn.

English, Australians, Americans, Colombians and others came to the festival, which was held for the first time in three years due to the Covid pandemic.

Many Japanese had their face masks lowered or removed to indulge in rock, techno, blues and other music forms. Most people in Japan are still wearing masks everywhere they go, but some Japanese who danced in front of the main stage at Yoyogi agreed that outdoors, the mask was unnecessary.

A few hundred meters from the famous Takeshita Street in youthful Harajuku, Japanese people with the eccentric look of hippies paraded to the sounds of electronic music.

The festival wants to carry a positive message in a troubled world and the organizers have highlighted the following as their motto: “The more the situation of the world is serious and chaotic, the more the value of the festival will increase.”

Almost a month after Prime Minister Kishida declared that it was no longer necessary to wear masks outdoors, smiling Japanese men and women have let themselves go to find their way back to freedom.