Furusato Matsuri (The Hometown Festival) isn’t the only place where you could see an Aomori Nebuta float in Tokyo this year. On Saturday, for the first time since 2014, Shibuya held its own Nebuta Festival, with a team parading a small float across the Scramble and up and down Center Gai after a dedication ceremony in Hachiko Square. The special one-sided float was designed to fit the narrow street by Rika Tsukamoto, only the second female Nebuta master in history. It was accompanied by traditional haneto dancers, non-traditional gymnasts doing flips, and a Nebuta bayashi, or music band, playing taiko drums, hand cymbals, and flutes.
For two days before the parade, the float was on display in a tent near IKEA. Last summer, there was also a Nebuta decoration up on the entrance gate to Center Gai, but having the full parade this year made things livelier. It brought a taste of the festival atmosphere from the Aomori Nebuta Matsuri to Shibuya. Today was a public holiday in Japan — Keiro no Hi, or Respect for the Aged Day — so this was a good way to kick off the three-day weekend.