ディワリ　祭り　横浜



It's the season for the Indian Diwali festival, which I went to see celebrated in Yokohama last Saturday. Of any Japanese city, Yokohama has perhaps the most multicultural reputation, being the city of choice for a large number of different immigrant groups, most notably the Chinese.

The festival took place next to Yamashita Park, one of Yokohama's best known parks, on the waterfront and very near Chinatown.



The air was alive with the smells of spices and the sounds of music. There were stalls selling food, CDs, books, and advertising a variety of other goods and services. The stage throbbed with the vivid color and lissome movement of Indian dance, while at the other end of the grounds a lone dancer entertained a smaller crowd with his song and dance, accompanied by Japanese sitar, drum, and cymbal players.



Local culture of a more idiosyncratic kind got a look in the form of an old man dressed more outlandishly than you could probably imagine, complete with goldfish bowl earrings complete with live goldfish! Asked what the significance of his get-up was, it was "To make the world better!"



By nightfall sticks of chicken that had been selling for 500 yen were down to 300, and 300 yen mango lassis down to 100. We walked the back through a now lit-up Chinatown to Ishikawacho station and took the train back to Tokyo.





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ディワリ祭り　西葛西



Last weekend I went to the Nishi-Kasai district of Tokyo, in Edogawa ward in the far east end of the city. Nishi-Kasai has the largest Indian community in Tokyo - and probably Japan - and the occasion on Saturday was the 10th celebration of the Hindu Diwali festival.

In spite of it being an Indian event, it was aimed at much at the local Japanese population as it was the Indian. The majority of the crowd was Japanese, and even the performances were largely Japanese-style and by Japanese people.

However, the Indian element was predominant in the stalls that lined the venue selling mainly Indian food, as well as clothing, incense, and jewelry. Several religious groups were proselytizing there, too, like Hare Krishnas, Sai Baba-ites, and even the Japanese, and decidedly oddball, "Happy Science" group.

But the festival was focused on performances: singing, dancing, and drama - the drama even including some manga-style futuristic gundam fighting.

Perhaps the most memorable performance was Beyonce-style stage dancing by half a dozen girls on stage, with the space below and along the stage lined with shirtless, body-painted boys drumming in vigorous unison while the girls worked their moves. Check out the YouTube video above of shirtless boys drumming and girls shaking it.

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