H-ZOO RECORDS · AOMORI, JAPAN
H-ZOO RECORDS is an independent label from Tokyo, pairing Japanese festivals with Afro House. These are the festivals the music comes from.
In the first week of August, huge illuminated floats of warriors and gods — rebuilt from wire and washi paper every year — are hauled through the streets of Aomori City. Thousands of haneto dancers jump alongside to taiko drums and flutes, chanting “rassera”. This is the loud one: physical, close, and over in a week.
In the smaller town of Goshogawara, the floats stand upright — around 23 meters and 19 tons, the height of a seven-story building. Giants like these paraded here in the Meiji era, said to be visible from villages 12 kilometers away, then vanished for most of a century. Old blueprints resurfaced in 1993; citizens funded a 16-meter revival in 1996, and from 2000 the town moved its power lines underground so the giants could walk the streets again. The chant here is “yattemare” — and ask around Aomori, and this is the one locals quietly call their favorite.
In the castle town of Hirosaki, the floats are fan-shaped — a battle scene painted on the front, and on the back a quieter, sorrowful figure to see the float off. The pace is slower and the mood more solemn than its neighbors: closer to a procession than a street party.
All three happen in Aomori, at the far northern tip of Japan's main island, in the same first week of August — a corner of the country most itineraries skip. None of it is staged for visitors; the floats roll through public streets whether anyone from outside is watching or not.
These festivals run through our catalog — most directly in DJ HAYAZO's NEBUTA Rassera Mix — and through the shorts that likely brought you here. Everything we release lives on YouTube first.
Want deeper guides to Japan's real festivals — when to go, where to stand, what the guidebooks skip? Register your interest and we'll let you know when the guides are ready.
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