The Japanese festival in Rome is back: two days of culture, food and shows that feel like a real journey

On February 28th and March 1st, Alleanza Live in Rome is transformed. For two days the large EUR space will become the home of Japan Days, the most followed J-Culture festival in Italy, born in 2007 and grown edition after edition to attract audiences from all over the peninsula.

This year’s program will bring together classical tradition and pop culture, practical workshops and live shows, traditional Japanese cuisine and martial arts, for a mix capable of attracting both great connoisseurs of the land of the rising sun and novices.

Workshops and laboratories: doing to understand

One of the souls of the festival is that of the laboratories, where visitors will be able to participate firsthand. Among the new features of this edition is the Semamori workshop with Michela Martire, an expert in sashiko embroidery: participants will have the opportunity to create an Asanoha talisman, the one that Japanese mothers traditionally sewed behind their children’s kimonos as protection from Evil. A small object, full of meaning, which says a lot about the relationship between everyday life and ritual in Japanese culture.

Alongside this, the most consolidated workshops return: kintsugi, origami, shodō calligraphy, bonsai, ikebana, kokedama, manga and introductory courses in Japanese language and culture.

Shows and performances

Very different worlds will alternate on stage, united by a single common thread: the show!

Yosuke Aikawa, katana master and well-known face on Japanese television, will bring his live sword performances.

The Taiko Trio – the only all-female group in Italy specialized in traditional drums – will give life to a show that will combine physical energy and gestural precision. Teacher Fumiko Oh will take care of the kimono dressing showcases, while the Ghibli World concert will bring the music of Studio Ghibli to the room. On the theatrical side, Kyogen – the comic form of classical Japanese theatre, often defined as “the theater of the samurai” – will be joined by the live show Hannya, inspired by Noh theater and the legend of the demon of the same name, and Yuki-onna by Grace Karmatek, a flow art show freely taken from the legends of the “snow woman” of Yurei folklore. The champion Davide Leonardi will close with kendama tricks.

The pop scene will also have its space thanks to Kpop Roma and Dintorni, which will offer showcases and random dance.

IncanTales will organize the Cosplay Contest with Licia Troisi as godmother and judge. The writer – considered one of the most important voices in contemporary Italian fantasy – will also be present for a meet & greet with signing copies of her latest novel “Saving Lucca”, published by Mondadori.

In the kitchen: show cooking and gastronomic workshops

The culinary program is among the richest of recent editions. The food creators Sam Nazionale (@Pranzoakonoha) and Stefano Guglielmetti (@AmicoJeko) will prepare tonjiru and yakisoba, telling the public the history and curiosities of the dishes.

On Sunday, sushi chef Micaela Giambanco, known as Mikachan (the same one who gives the name to her restaurant in Infernetto), will stage a cooking show dedicated to chirashizushi – the so-called scattered sushi, an iconic dish of Hinamatsuri, the girls’ festival celebrated in Japan on March 3 – and to dorayaki with sweet potato cream, in a four-handed meeting with Yoshihisa Ito, the president of Glo-Berry Japan. In the afternoon he will lead two practical workshops dedicated to Temarizushi, the small spherical sushi traditionally linked to Hinamatsuri.

Annalena De Bortoli, coordinator of the Italian Association of Japanese Restaurateurs and author of “Sahou” – the book dedicated to good table manners in Japanese culture – will occupy both days with two separate events: on Saturday we will talk about noodles, history, regional varieties and recipes, on Sunday it will be the turn of ohitashi, a cold resting technique little practiced outside Japan, capable of transforming the most common vegetables into something unexpected in terms of consistency and depth of flavour.

Martial arts, manga and children’s space

The Hontai Yoshin Ryu school of Pomezia will perform with many demonstrations of JuJutsu, IaiJutsu and BoJutsu. There will also be karate, kendo and kumiken performances.

For comics lovers, the Manga Expo Exhibition – created in collaboration with the School of Comics and Illustration Pencil ART of Rome – will display the drawings of the students of Paolo Zeccardo’s Manga Techniques and Narration course, with live drawing sessions inspired by the Kitsune, the typical fox figures of Japanese folklore.

For the little ones there is space for Japanese fishing, child face painting, kapla playground and Il Castello di Mezzo tournaments, as well as the area dedicated to Go, the age-old strategy game.

Food area and konbini

In the street food space you will find typical Japanese matsuri dishes: onigiri, takoyaki, gyoza, karē, karaage, dorayaki, dango, mochi. One corner will recall the atmosphere of the konbini, the neighborhood minimarkets open 24 hours a day, permanent fixtures of daily life in Japan. Matcha tastings and a Sake Class led by sommelier Kana Cappelli of Shibataya will complete the journey.

For further information, tickets and booking of the workshops, please refer to the official website of the event www.japandays.it