The 23rd Penang Bon Odori Festival was held on 20 July 2019. The event, which was held at the Queensbay Mall outdoor car park this year, attracted some 80,000 visitors.
Toray Group Companies in Malaysia have been involved in this annual event as one of the sponsoring companies. This year, six Japanese employees assisted in running the goldfish scooping game booth.
For the first time, a replica of Kaminarimon Gate, a famous landmark of Asakusa, Tokyo, was installed to create a Japanese atmosphere. There were a lot of stalls selling Japanese food, including the famous ramen shop “Ippudo” and takoyaki shop “Tsukiji Gindaco” and so on. On the stage, Japanese drum performance and yosakoi dance (a traditional Japanese dance combined with modern music, performed at festivals) were showed, and both the Malaysian and Japanese people danced the traditional bon odori (a traditional Japanese dance performed during summer) together.
We all enjoyed the traditional Japanese summer events.