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▼ Music Festivals in Tohoku To Celebrate Recovery
- Category:Event
Young people in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, which were devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, have organized their own modest rock festivals. Most of the events will take place from later this month as part of the summer music festival scene.
Here are some of the festivals that are well worth visiting.
Arahama Rock Fes in Watari, Miyagi Prefecture, will be held on July 30 for the second straight year. The town’s bathing beach has been closed since the earthquake. However, a shopping arcade opened near the beach in 2015, and a rock concert was organized in an effort to lure people back to the town. A seafood barbecue and water attractions will enhance the impression of a real bathing resort. The festival will feature 15 acts this year.
Ohtsuchi Arigato Rock Festival in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, will be held on Aug. 7. It will be the fifth edition of the festival, which first took place in 2012. The organizers have stuck to its admission-free policy as an expression of gratitude to people who supported the town after the quake.
The festival features fireworks paid for through donations from townspeople. SA, STREET BEATS and other veteran bands have taken part in the festival from the beginning. “I’m really grateful to them. They say such things as, ‘We’ll come no matter what,’ and ask us ‘When is it being held this year?’” said Shigeo Okano, 41, who heads the event’s organizing committee.
Kibamusha Rock Fes in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, began holding this event in 2014. This year it will take place on Oct. 9 at the site of the traditional Shinto ritual called Soma Nomaoi (Horse chasing in Soma). Part of the city is within a 20-kilometer radius of Tokyo Electric
Power Company Holdings Inc.’s disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. City folk hope young former residents will return to the city at least once a year and want to make the occasion a good opportunity to show how those who stayed are working hard to rebuild their lives. Veteran rocker Shigeru Izumiya, who performed at the festival last year, will appear again this year.
Here are some of the festivals that are well worth visiting.
Arahama Rock Fes in Watari, Miyagi Prefecture, will be held on July 30 for the second straight year. The town’s bathing beach has been closed since the earthquake. However, a shopping arcade opened near the beach in 2015, and a rock concert was organized in an effort to lure people back to the town. A seafood barbecue and water attractions will enhance the impression of a real bathing resort. The festival will feature 15 acts this year.
Ohtsuchi Arigato Rock Festival in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, will be held on Aug. 7. It will be the fifth edition of the festival, which first took place in 2012. The organizers have stuck to its admission-free policy as an expression of gratitude to people who supported the town after the quake.
The festival features fireworks paid for through donations from townspeople. SA, STREET BEATS and other veteran bands have taken part in the festival from the beginning. “I’m really grateful to them. They say such things as, ‘We’ll come no matter what,’ and ask us ‘When is it being held this year?’” said Shigeo Okano, 41, who heads the event’s organizing committee.
Kibamusha Rock Fes in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, began holding this event in 2014. This year it will take place on Oct. 9 at the site of the traditional Shinto ritual called Soma Nomaoi (Horse chasing in Soma). Part of the city is within a 20-kilometer radius of Tokyo Electric
Power Company Holdings Inc.’s disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. City folk hope young former residents will return to the city at least once a year and want to make the occasion a good opportunity to show how those who stayed are working hard to rebuild their lives. Veteran rocker Shigeru Izumiya, who performed at the festival last year, will appear again this year.
After the quake, rock bands and other artists were quick to support people in the devastated areas, sending supplies and doing whatever they could to help. They have played a big part in organizing rock festivals in these areas and regularly tour music clubs across the country. They strongly appreciate their fans in regional cities and towns.
Festival organizers are unanimous that these artists are extremely sincere in their activities, just like their uplifting songs.
Support for Kumamoto
In the wake of the powerful earthquakes that struck Kumamoto Prefecture and surrounding areas in spring, a fund-raising event for those affected was held during the Arabaki Rock Fest. 2016 in Kawasaki, Miyagi Prefecture, in April.
While the festival’s main message was focused on the disaster in the Tohoku region five years ago, the organizers were eager to carry out fund-raising activities. Participating artists all spoke of their fond feelings for Kumamoto Prefecture.
The third Park Rock Ishinomaki festival took place in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, in 2015, and its organizers initially decided not to hold one this year. After the Kumamoto quakes, however, they quickly put together an event, which will be held on July 16 to support Kumamoto and Oita prefectures.
Most volunteers, who are busy with other work, go out of their way to organize festivals despite very tight schedules and budgets. To build partnerships among 12 festivals in the Tohoku region and Ibaraki Prefecture, an organization called Michinoku Festival Line was launched in 2015. It has helped by sharing equipment, manpower and rock festival know-how.
Takayuki Kitamura, head of Volunteer Info, which administers Michinoku Festival Line, said: “To run a rock festival, people basically forget their everyday lives and cooperate with each other until the day of the event. Such powerful assistance helps develop the area and the people. And the music spreads across generations. I hope lots of people come to these areas to join in the fun.”
Major events coming
In addition to these modest festivals, major events also will also occur in the Tohoku region in summer.
One such event, Reborn-Art Festival x ap bank fes, will be held on July 30 and 31 in Ishinomaki. Bank Band, whose members include Kazutoshi Sakurai of the popular band Mr. Children, is involved in organizing the festival. This year’s participants include popular singers Misia and Shikao Suga, as well as alternative rock band Straightener.
RockCorps, an international project offering free admission to those who do certain volunteering work, will hold a concert in Japan for the third time on Sept. 3 in Fukushima. Those who spend four hours participating in specific volunteering activities mostly in the Tohoku region will be invited to a concert called Celebration. The headline artists include ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, Minami Takahashi and Carly Rae Jepsen.\
By Jin Kiyokawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Festival organizers are unanimous that these artists are extremely sincere in their activities, just like their uplifting songs.
Support for Kumamoto
In the wake of the powerful earthquakes that struck Kumamoto Prefecture and surrounding areas in spring, a fund-raising event for those affected was held during the Arabaki Rock Fest. 2016 in Kawasaki, Miyagi Prefecture, in April.
While the festival’s main message was focused on the disaster in the Tohoku region five years ago, the organizers were eager to carry out fund-raising activities. Participating artists all spoke of their fond feelings for Kumamoto Prefecture.
The third Park Rock Ishinomaki festival took place in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, in 2015, and its organizers initially decided not to hold one this year. After the Kumamoto quakes, however, they quickly put together an event, which will be held on July 16 to support Kumamoto and Oita prefectures.
Most volunteers, who are busy with other work, go out of their way to organize festivals despite very tight schedules and budgets. To build partnerships among 12 festivals in the Tohoku region and Ibaraki Prefecture, an organization called Michinoku Festival Line was launched in 2015. It has helped by sharing equipment, manpower and rock festival know-how.
Takayuki Kitamura, head of Volunteer Info, which administers Michinoku Festival Line, said: “To run a rock festival, people basically forget their everyday lives and cooperate with each other until the day of the event. Such powerful assistance helps develop the area and the people. And the music spreads across generations. I hope lots of people come to these areas to join in the fun.”
Major events coming
In addition to these modest festivals, major events also will also occur in the Tohoku region in summer.
One such event, Reborn-Art Festival x ap bank fes, will be held on July 30 and 31 in Ishinomaki. Bank Band, whose members include Kazutoshi Sakurai of the popular band Mr. Children, is involved in organizing the festival. This year’s participants include popular singers Misia and Shikao Suga, as well as alternative rock band Straightener.
RockCorps, an international project offering free admission to those who do certain volunteering work, will hold a concert in Japan for the third time on Sept. 3 in Fukushima. Those who spend four hours participating in specific volunteering activities mostly in the Tohoku region will be invited to a concert called Celebration. The headline artists include ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, Minami Takahashi and Carly Rae Jepsen.\
By Jin Kiyokawa / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
- July 21, 2016
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