“The First Festival Network” Meeting
For festivals brought to the brink of extinction as intangible cultural heritage nationwide in Japan, the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage organized the “Festival Network” meeting to establish a network connecting successors and supporters. The first meeting was held jointly with Omatsuri Japan Co., Ltd. at the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties on December 9th, 2017, attracting more than 40 lovers who were interested in “Festivals.”
During the first half of the meeting, Mr. Yohei YAMAMOTO (Omatsuri Japan), who has been working on regional revitalization by coordinating “Festivals” from a corporate perspective, Mr. Shutaro KOIWA (Japan Folk Performing Arts Association), who has been supporting national folk performing arts, and Mr. Hiromichi KUBOTA, Head of the Intangible Folk Cultural Properties Section, gave presentations under the theme “Challenges in Festivals.” In the last half, participants were divided into seven groups for discussion in response to the presentations. Finally, each group reported on “Challenges in Festivals,” expecting further progress at the next meeting.
This network meeting will be ongoing as an opportunity to share opinions among successors, supporters, lovers, researchers, and others who are involved in “Festivals” in various ways.