Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on August 2012

30,000 bon odori revelers gather for one of summer’s last big shebangs. Over two days, locals will dance to conjure their dead ancestors’ spirits according to the fluid Osaka folk style known as Kawachi Ondo, in which singers improvise epic tales that can run from history to feats by the yakuza or even current events taken directly from the morning paper. Expect plenty of taiko drums and shamisen performed on stages next to the Sumida River illuminated by red lanterns, surrounded by the usual tekiya street stalls hawking chocobanana and the like.

Kinshicho stn, Aug 29-30 (listing).