Shibukawa belly button festival
A Reuters report about a belly button festival in Gunma Prefecture:
Children and adults, many of them sporting painted stomachs, took part at the annual Belly Button Festival in Shibukawa, north of Tokyo, where dancing in the streets is compulsory.
“The belly button is traditionally believed to be located in the middle of the body and the most important part. Our town, Shibukawa, is also called the belly button of Japan, and that is how this festival began,” said festival organizer Kazuo Yamada.
The festival is based on a traditional Japanese form of entertainment where revelers paint a face on their torsos and stomachs and pretend it is a head.
A kimono is then wrapped around the waist and the person’s real head is hidden by a large cloth hat. The belly button is traditionally painted into a mouth.
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Ehhhh… Gunma? The bellybutton of Japan I know is right next to me in Nishiwaki, Hyogo. They have the Japan Bellybutton Park (日本へそ公園) even!
http://sleepytako.blogspot.com/2006/08/navel-of-japan-park.html
There are lots of places claiming to be the heso of Japan. Shibukawa, Awaji, Nishiwaki, and there was somewhere else in Gifu. It’s pretty silly IMHO, how can a series of islands have a belly button?!
Of course, since my wife is from Shibukawa, I have to support the Gunma one. Sorry! XD
Haha Jeshii
What up?
I’m going to have to go with shibukawa on this one, as it’s the actual geographic center of Japan.
And having participated in the shibukawa festival before it’s def. the best.