Events: Brighton Japan Festival

The eight-day festival of Japan-related arts, technology, design and business is back

Brighton Japan Festival is becoming one of the largest annual Japanese cultural festivals in the UK. The week-long festival is being held in various venues across town such as HŌMU, Hotel du Vin, Marwoods Café, Brighton Meditation Group and Moshi Moshi. The lively festival is full of film, theatre, dance and delicious food.

There will be two street festivals happening across both weekends, Moshi Matsuri and the Asahi Anime Festival. Matsuri is Japanese for ‘summer festival’ and the opening weekend will launch outside Moshi Moshi in Bartholomew Square. The first street festival, Moshi Matsuri features a lively collection of Japanese music with performances from Enka singers, Shamisen three-stringed guitars and traditional Taiko drumming. There will be children’s games, workshops on kimono’s, calligraphy, tea ceremonies, and street processions, as well as shitamachi-style stalls selling all sorts of food and Japanese goods.

The Asahi Anime festival is the UK’s only open-air anime festival and is a colourful celebration of all things cool and kawaii, with cosplay contests, manga drawing and karaoke competitions. You can also expect a Lolita fashion show, J-pop music, dance performances, giant chalk art and stalls selling the latest manga books, anime toys and kawaii fashion.

Other must-see events include the Japanese Whisky tasting at Hotel Du Vin, where the bar team have long been fans of the vast quality whiskies to be found in Japan, and the Retro Games Night at Marwood’s Cafe. Brighton’s hippest cafe turns back the technological clock again this year with video games from antiquity. Nintendo DS and Sony Vita fans will be in seventh heaven.

Various venues, Friday 22 June–Friday 1 July, free with a few ticketed events, see www.brightonjapan.com for further details on prices and times.