Japanese festival could draw thousands to Arlington Heights

Finally, an opportunity to wear your kimono.

Arlington Heights' Mitsuwa Marketplace, touted as the Midwest's largest Japanese shopping center, hosts its Bon-Dancing Festival Saturday.

Complete with dancing, food and music, the annual festival is an exchange of cultures, including dress.

"A lot of American people have those kimonos and yukatas (Japanese garments) because they were given them as a gift from Japanese business people," said Atsu Tatsuki, marketplace spokesman.

The festival, he said, would give people a good opportunity to don those garments "in public, because everybody will be wearing them."

The marketplace has hosted the yearly festival since the early 1990s, Tatsuki said. About 4,000 people are expected to attend the free event, which mirrors traditional bon-dancing festivals held in Japan during the summer "bon holiday."

"During that one-week window, it is believed that ancestors visit to oversee everybody's health," he said. "We use that occasion to gather the family, talk about our ancestors and keep them in our memory."

Beginning at noon, the festival will feature kiosks offering traditional Japanese foods, such as kaki-gori (shaved ice with syrup), yakitori (grilled chicken), onigiri (rice balls) and yakisoba (fried noodles). There will be a karate demonstration, a dance performance and two Taiko drum performances.

The highlight is the bon dancing itself, and new this year, beginning at 6 p.m., will be 15 to 20 minutes of instruction before the bon dancing, a slow form of line dancing, begins.

"Everybody's smiling and laughing," Tatsuki said.

Tatsuki said many Japanese people in living in Chicago are away from their families in Japan. The festival, drawing people from all over the Midwest, reminds the Japanese of home, gives their children a glimpse into their heritage and creates a sense of community.

"(It is) a good reason for all the Japanese people in the area to come out and celebrate just as they would in Japan," he said. "We gather everybody just like a family."

Last year, about half the participants were Americans.

"A lot of young Americans love anime, Japanese comics and Wii. They're all Japanese culture, which has kind of penetrated into American culture," Tatsuki said. Americans who attend the festival can learn "different aspects of Japanese culture compared to what they are used to."

Mitsuwa Marketplace's Bon-Dancing Festival

When: Noon-8 p.m. Saturday

Where: 100 E. Algonquin Road, Arlington Heights

Cost: No charge; food prices vary

More information: mitsuwa.com/english

Schedule

Noon: Festival begins; food and games kiosks open

3:30 p.m.: Performance by Tsukasa Taiko drummers

4 p.m.: Traditional dance by Okinawan dance group

4:30 p.m.: American Airline ticket giveaway

5 p.m.: Karate demos by Shidokan Karate

5:30 p.m.: Performance by Tsukasa Taiko drummers

6 p.m.: Bon dancing

8 p.m.: Festival ends