Interesting Green: Asakusa Samba Carnival (Japan)

PHOTO: Asakusa Samba Festival

Held on the last Saturday in August, the Asakusa Samba Festival is a carnival that's perfect during a hot Tokyo summer..This Tokyo style samba festival is a relatively new addition to the Japanese calendar. The first carnival was held on August 29, 1981 to celebrate the long standing ties between Brazil and Japan.
There are usually 30 - 40 dance teams taking part in the Asakusa Samba Festival, with the winning team of the Rio de Janeiro carnival for the year also invited to take part.
The dance teams are divided into 3 leagues. The top league is made up of all the professional dancers and musicians who will be competing during the Grand Parade.

By mAi1227. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009.
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This event takes place annually in the month of August. The venue is the Asakusa district but the parade visits other parts of the city too. The residents of Tokyo have taken to this dance form most commonly identified with Latin America. Groups from all over Japan converge on Tokyo to perform the Samba. The costumes worn by the girls are beautiful and the parade is grand.

PHOTO: Samba Carnival 2009

By Crazywolfdl Ân Nguyễn. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Canon EOS Kiss Digital X.

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From: http://forum.gaijinpot.com/showthread.php?90257-Tomorrow-August-28-Samba-Carnival-Festival-in-Asakusa

Powerful drum beats, cheerful songs and passionate dancing from Brazil will fill Tokyo's Asakusa district, the capital's traditional downtown, during the Asakusa Samba Carnival.

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival
By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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The annual event was launched in 1981 by an association of local stores in an effort to revitalize the area. The group modeled the event after Rio de Janeiro's famed Carnival.

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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The festival attracted some 500,000 audiences in year 2007, according to the organizers. The event, which runs from 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Aug. 28 (2009), took the form of a contest.

From: http://forum.gaijinpot.com/showthread.php?90257-Tomorrow-August-28-Samba-Carnival-Festival-in-Asakusa (August 28 Samba Carnival Festival in Asakusa)

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival
By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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From: http://www.mynippon.com/culture/samba.htm
Samba carnival in Tokyo - Carnival dresses, girls, and a lot of fun

If you are in Tokyo at the peak of summer and feel like feeling even hotter, one activity that can help you in your efforts, is to visit the Asakusa Samba Carnival. A festival, that is held in the most unlikely place in Tokyo, is something that would expose you to that side of Japan that embraces traits of foreign cultures, as long as they are fun and can merge into the Japanese framework.

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival
By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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This is true with regards to hamburgers, pizza, mini-skirts, English words, and Louis Vuitton bags, and it is equally true for the manner in which Christmas is celebrated in Japan and how crazy Japan gets about the Samba Carnival.

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival
By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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Unlike the carnivals in Brazil or Caribbean countries or even in New Orleans, the show in Tokyo is a more sedate affair. The crowds, as you would expect in Japan, are far more disciplined.

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival
By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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While the streets are packed since morning mostly with young people and even families, people are there to take pictures of beautiful women and men and their exotic dresses.

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival
By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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The day the MYNIPPON team visited, it was a bright day and that made it extremely hot. Interestingly, a vast majority of the Japanese crowd was dressed as always in formal, decent summer dresses.

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival
By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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In other parts of the world such carnivals tend to have fairly wild atmosphere. Have you ever looked at the wild crowds in Brazil or New Orleans? This is not something we witnessed in Tokyo.

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival
By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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In addition to that, the dancers themselves are dressed more conservatively. While the dresses for women are still mostly designed as bra tops, t-backs, g-strings, or the tiniest of skirts, no dancers would be topless as is common in samba carnivals elsewhere.

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival
By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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Another unique feature of this festival in Japan is that while foreigners are generally treated as outsiders and not allowed to participate in mainstream culture, in this festival they are admired.

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival
By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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While a large number of dancers are Japanese and you will see some of the most beautiful Japanese dancers with great bodies, the samba groups from Brazil and other Caribbean countries feature some of their best dancers.

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival
By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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Interestingly, there are groups from other countries as well. Of course, Brazil has a large Japanese presence and most of the samba schools in Japan are either operated by Brazilians or have teachers trained in Brazil.

PHOTO: 29th Asakusa Samba Carnival
By Daniel Shi. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009 using a Nikon D40X.
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It is an extremely interesting experience to see this show of feminine beauty in Japan without feeling unsafe or being exposed to any vulgar behavior.

PHOTO: Asakusa Samba Carnival 2009
By oceanbaby. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009.
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It appears that different types of western dances are becoming popular in Japan and some of the Latin dances like flamenco, samba, and salsa have caught on.

PHOTO: Asakusa Samba Carnival 2009
By oceanbaby. This photo was taken on August 29, 2009.
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The reason that these dances have become popularity is the rhythms that are so critical to these Latin dances are something that Japanese people can easily follow because of cultural reasons.

By MyNippon Facebook fan club, http://www.mynippon.com/culture/samba.htm