Nankinmachi Shunsetu Sai (Chinese New Years)

Unknown to many, there's also a fun-loving side to the hard-working and the seemingly stolid Japanese people and you will see it in full flow at the various colorful Japanese festivals . In Japan, festivals do not even have to purely Japanese in origin for the natives to make merry. The Nankinmachi Shunsetu Sai (Chinese New Year's) sees merrymaking at its most boisterous, coming from both the Chinese folks and also the Japanese.

About The Nankinmachi Shunsetu Sai (Chinese New Year's)

The Nankinmachi Shunsetu Sai (Chinese New Year's) is one of the more famous of the Kobe festivals and is celebrated every year in the month of February. In fact, it is the largest of the festivals that take place in the Nankinmachi quarters, the little slice of China that resides in the city of Kobe.

“Shunsetu” is the New Year's Day according to the Chinese calendar. So the Nankinmachi Shunsetu Sai in Kobe, Japan is actually a celebration of the Chinese New Year's Day in Kobe . At the Nankinmachi Shunsetu Sai (Chinese New Year's), Kobe the usual lineup of festivities includes the Ryu-mai (the very vibrant and the energetic Dragon Dance) and the Shishi-mai (the Lion Dance). Besides the dance performances, there is also a parade of people all decked up in grand and ornate historical garbs.

After you have cheered the parade and jiggled with the lion and the dragon dancers, tuck into some delicious Chinese foodstuff that is served at the numerous Chinese food stalls that spring up by the roadside during the Nankinmachi Shunsetu Sai.

One of the most popular of the festivals in Japan , the Nankinmachi Shunsetu Sai (Chinese New Year's) also gives a fair idea of how the Chinese New Year Day in Japan is celebrated: with a warmth, passion, fervor and zeal that will make you forget that you are not actually in China.

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