Tokyo, Japan - 19 May 2006
The largest of Tokyo's big three festivals is set to take to the city's streets this May.
The Asakusa Shrine's Sanja festival is a three day event beginning on Friday 19th May with considerable amounts of dancing, drinking and music.
The focal points of the weekend are the processions of many shrines, known as mikoshi, through the city, which are believed to bestow luck and prosperity to the inhabitants.
Around 100 mikoshi parade through the streets, in processions that attract more than two million people to the event every year.
The Friday begins with preliminary parades of people through the local neighbourhoods, with the first mikoshis seen on the Saturday.
The Sunday is by far the most eventful of the three days with three giant mikoshis from the Asakusa shrine paraded though the neighbourhoods along with their smaller brothers, in processions that begin at 6am and run well in to the evening.
If you're lucky, you may catch sight of a geisha or a member of the Japanese mafia enjoying themselves among the crowds.
Source: Hostelbookers
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