Tokyo Olympics Brings Upheaval to Japan’s Summer Events Schedule
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The Tokyo Olympics, to be held from July 24 to Aug. 9, and Paralympics, scheduled for Aug. 25 to Sept. 9, are affecting Japan’s big summer events. Everything from fireworks displays to music festivals have chosen to shift dates or even cancel altogether.
The only film festival so far to announce a change in dates is the Skip City International D-Cinema Festival. Held every July in the Tokyo suburb of Kawaguchi since its start in 2004, the festival Thursday revealed that its 17th edition will unspool Sept. 26 to Oct. 4 instead. “The regular festival dates overlap with the Olympics,” organizers explained in a statement.
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Big music festivals are another matter, being concentrated in the summer months. The biggest, Fuji Rock Festival, which has been held in July at the Naeba Ski Resort in Niigata Prefecture since 1999, has shifted its dates to Aug. 21-23.
Another major music festival, Summer Sonic, which presented its 20th edition in Osaka and Tokyo Aug. 16-18 of last year, has announced its cancellation for 2020. Instead, organizers will hold a one-time event, Supersonic, in September, with venues yet to be announced.
Also, six big fireworks displays that annually draw millions from late July through mid-August in the Tokyo metro area have moved their dates forward, from June 6 at the earliest to July 11 at the latest.
Comic Market, better known as Comiket, a biannual event for self-published comics that draws more than half a million fans to its August and December editions, will unfold its 98th edition May 2-5 at its usual Tokyo Big Site venue.
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