There are some very nice matsuri (festivals) and events in Urayasu. The most popular ones are:
Urayasu Festival (浦安フェスティバル)The Urayasu Festival is a new festival that was held for the first time on September 19, 2010 in the Shin Urayasu area. The Urayasu Festival was held along the Symbol Road and in the Sogo Koen that borders the bay.The highlight of the Urayasu Festival was a parade of floats gathered from four different areas in Japan. These areas are famous for their traditional, long-standing parade of floats. The four areas that contributed floats to the Urayasu Festival were:
1. Parade Route During the festival, parades were held along the Symbol Road starting right after the Ito Yokado shopping area and going down the road to the Fountain Terrace Hotel adjacent to the Sogo Koen that borders the bay. The parade schedule roughly was as follows:
An outdoor stage was set up in the Sogo Koen that borders the bay. Dancing and other performances were held on the outdoor stage from approximately 5:30-8:30pm. 3. Shops Shops selling local specialties, food and drinks were set up in two areas:
Urayasu Summer Fireworks Festival (浦安市納涼花火大会)The Urayasu Summer Fireworks Festival is an amazing display of fireworks that is held every year along the bay coast in Shin Urayasu. The fireworks display usually lasts about an hour. The fireworks are usually divided into groups, and each group has some kind of theme and is accompanied by music.The Urayasu Summer Fireworks Festival is always extremely crowded. It is estimated that 450,000 people came to see the fireworks in 2009 so be sure to get there early. There are free shuttle buses from Urayasu Station on the Tozai Line (subway) and Shin Urayasu Station on the JR Keiyo Line. The fireworks can be seen the best in the Shin Urayasu area. The Sogo Koen at the end of the main Symbol Road is a popular place to see the fireworks. New high rise apartment buildings keep going up so the area may change a little from year to year. There are stalls selling snacks and drinks near the main viewing areas. There are also portable restrooms at each site. The 32nd Urayasu Summer Fireworks Festival （第32回浦安市納涼花火大会）was held on Saturday July 31, 2010 from 7:30pm - 8:30pm. There were approximately 6,500 fireworks. UPDATE: Tentative news: rumor has it that the summer fireworks will be held in 2011. The date of the 33rd Urayasu Summer Fireworks Festival so far is set for Saturday, August 27, 2011. Check the Urayasu City website for details, including any possible changes in the schedule and/or location. Urayasu Sanja Matsuri （浦安三社祭）The Urayasu Sanja Matsuri (Three Shrine Festival) is jointly held by Urayasu City's three main Shinto shrines once every four years.The three main shrines in Urayasu are Seiryuu Jinja （清瀧神社） located in the Horie district, Toyouke Jinja （豊受神社） located in the Nekozane district and the Inari Jinja （稲荷神社） located in the Todaijima district. The Urayasu Sanja Matsuri used to be held separately by each shrine in the middle of October. However, portable mikoshi shrines were added during the Taisho period (1912-1926) and the three temples decided to hold a joint festival once every four years. The festival was said to have been very intense and energetic in the past. Rumor has it that the portable shrines sometimes even crashed into things. The festival died down after that and stopped around the late 1950s. The festival was resumed in June 1974 and is now held once every four years. The Urayasu Sanja Matsuri is usually held over a weekend in the middle of June. Over 100 decorative portable shrines (mikoshi) and festival floats are paraded through the streets of Urayasu. The parade includes 2 large mikoshi shrines from Seiryuu Jinja in Horie, 2 from Toyouke Jinja in Nekozane and 1 from Inari Jinja in Todaijima. Usually these mikoshi are enshrined in each shrine so this festival is a great chance to see all of them at one time. The next Urayasu Sanja Matsuri is planned for June 2012. Shin Urayasu Matsuri (新浦安祭)The Shin Urayasu Matsuri started in 2001 and is held every year in September. It is held in the plaza area between Shin Urayasu Station on the JR Keiyo Line and the Shopper's Plaza shopping center.During the festival there are lots of stalls selling snacks and drinks. There are also a lot of the shops from the area have booths selling items such as clothing, accessories, etc. There is also a stage set up in the open-air plaza with live entertainment and performances such as dancing, and traditional and modern music. The Shin Urayasu Matsuri is really small scale compared to similar festivals around Japan and it seems like one of the main goals of the Shin Urayasu Festival is to promote local businesses. The festival itself does not have much history and the entire Shin Urayasu area itself is relatively new so it can't compare to long-standing summer festivals in other areas. A lot of long-standing summer festivals are connected in some way to a temple. The Shin Urayasu Festival is different in that sense. Nevertheless, it is held right in front of the train station so it is easy to get to and it provides a quick introduction to a few aspects of summer festivals in Japan. The most recent Shin Urayasu Matsuri was held on September 4-5, 2010. © 2006-2011 Eli. All rights reserved. |