Brighton Japan festival

About a month ago the Brighton Japan Festival was held in seaside town of Brighton, which is on the southcoast of UK. The festival started about 5 years ago with just a one day event, but has now grown into a 10 day festival. This year the event ran from 13/09 – 22/09. The festival ran both in the daytime and in the evening too. The festival was mainly set out around rock gardens, which close to most parts of central Brighton.

Festival

The festival is a mixture of all things Japanese – from music, culture and food to kawaii and more. If its Japanese, it probably could be found, one way or another, at the festival. The festival was first started by the Brighton & Hove Japanese Club, which once was a very small event, compared to now being one of the major Japanese culture events on the south coast. It is very parent now that Japanese culture is having a bigger and bigger effect on the rest of the world these days, with more and more of Japanese culture reaching to different countries all around the world.

Events

The festival had a mixture of events, some you had to buy a ticket to get access to and some were free of charge. In the way of music, there were nights dedicatied to j-rock music, with bands like Esprit D’Air, Colors Of Fire and Fate. Most of the bands are based outside of Japan, but still brought the j-rock theme to the event. There was also a Harajuku night with artists No Cars, Erika and Kero Kero Bonito playing into the night.

The festival had a Taiko drumming performance (from one of the most well known taiko groups in the UK), cover songs from Brighton’s very own Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (Fume) and Kids Dancers too. There was a Japanese horror movie night (which was held on Friday the 13th), a big Japanese fashion show, lots of food and a big market selling all things Japanese. The list goes on. If you’re into Japanese cultureIm sure you would find something of your liking at the festival.