Toyama: Music and dance festival returns to Toyama for 1st time since 2019

The Yomiuri Shimbun

10:00 JST, November 13, 2022

TOYAMA — The Toyama Festival, an annual music and dance event that was canceled from 2020 on due to the coronavirus pandemic, returned to the heart of the city in late September.

About 700 dancers from 23 yosakoi teams from Toyama and other prefectures gave powerful performances at Toyama Castle Park and along Joshi Odori avenue.

The Grand Plaza in the Sogawa shopping district became a stage for the Etchu Owara dance and a performance by a chindonya Japanese marching band. The latter event was a substitute for the All-Japan “Chindon” Traditional Street Performer Contest, an annual event held in the prefecture that has been canceled for the third straight year.

“I was struck by people of all ages dancing together,” said a 67-year-old woman from Toyama who visited the festival with her family.