Hundreds of locals took part in a mud festival at Mimusubi Shrine in Yotsukaido, near Tokyo, on Feb 25, to pray for good harvest and good health for babies.
Seollal (설날), or Korean New Year, is the first day of the lunar Korean calendar and is the most important traditional Korean holidays.
Chinese New Year started on Feb 7 this year (normally celebrated for 15-days), and people from all over the world, not just Chinese, are celebrating the festival…
Seijin no Hi (成人の日; Coming-of-Age Day) is a national holiday in Japan, which falls on the second Monday in January each year (Jan 14 in 2008). The holiday is for young Japanese who reached the legal age of adulthood (20) to celebrate their new status.
A Coming-of-Age ceremony (成人式; Seijin shiki) is normally held in the morning at local city offices where politicians and academicians will give speeches reminding the new adults of their social responsibilities.
The young adults would often visit a shrine after the ceremony to make their wishes before started partying (with plenty of drinks I guess).
Ladies coming-of-age are often seen wearing furisode (a style of kimono) on the day, which makes it a special day for otaku photographers as well…
Thousands of people taking part in an ice-fishing contest on a frozen river in South Korea…
Ice-fishing contest is the highlight of Korea’s Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival, which was held in every January of the year.
Hwacheon is located in northern Gangwon-do province; while Sancheoneo is a mountain trout indigenous to this particular region of Korea. Besides fishing, the Hwacheongang River also plays host to ice bobsledding, ice soccer and ice skating during the festival.
You can read more about this festival on Tour2Korea, the official Korea tourism guide site.
Family photos of the Japanese Imperial Family, released in conjunction with New Year celebration by the Imperial Household Agency.
Not the usual sexy poll dance though; Japanese fire fighters wearing traditional costumes displayed display their balancing skills atop bamboo poles during an annual New Year demonstration in Tokyo on Jan 6…
Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) female workers were dressed up in Kimono in a ceremony to kick start their first trading day in 2008 on Jan 4.
The traditional Japanese costume didn’t bring much luck though, as the Nikkei 225 index was down 616.37 points on closing… their lowest in one and a half years.
