The Aomori Nebuta Festival began on August 2 with a procession of 16 large format lantern floats and eight smaller floats, depicting warriors and mythical characters.

The nebuta floats were paraded 3.1 kilometers around the city of Aomori in northeastern Japan as colorfully dressed dancers sang a call and response.

Audience members cheered as the giant floats turned and towered over the crowds that lined the streets.

S/ Dancer/ I’m tired but it was fun! It was cool to see the dragons being built.

S/ Dancer/ I can’t get enough of the unity of Aomori residents and the tourists!

S/ Nebuta Artisan/ We were blessed by the weather but it’s just so hot! Nebuta is really a great time though.

It is the first time in two years that a total of 23 large floats will march the procession over the festival period.

The Aomori Nebuta Festival, designated an important intangible folk cultural property, continues until August 7.

In the same northeastern region of Japan, the city of Ishinomaki in Miyagi Prefecture celebrated a river opening festival on August 2.

The festival began in 1916 to honor the flood control efforts of the local river by a military commander.

The main attraction of the festival is the rowing boat race where 36 teams raced along a 550 meters course.

S/ Participant/ The event is only held once a year so we came together as a team and worked extremely hard.

S/ Participant/ It was great that we were able to unite our voices as one and reach the goal.

A portion of the planned events were cancelled due to Typhoon Krosa that made its way north off the coast of Japan.

However, visitors to the festival were still seen enjoying a taste of summer under the sun.

By evening of August 2, one of Japan’s three great fireworks festival the Nagaoka Fireworks Festival in Niigata Prefecture was lighting the skies.

Over one million people come each year to see the fireworks over the two-night festival.

This year, organizers sold out its 340,000 reserved viewing seats.

The Nagaoka Fireworks Festival has its roots in recovery from air raids that occurred 80 years ago.

Each firework is said to be a wish for peace.

The “Phoenix” is an especially grand display that stretches across the sky in memory of the disastrous 2004 earthquake that deeply affected the region.

S/ Mentor and Geiko/ Happy Hassaku. We’ll be in your care ma’am.

Meanwhile in Kyoto, traditional entertainers and trainees, known as geiko and maiko respectively, spent their day on August 1 expressing their thanks.

August 1 on the lunar calendar was once celebrated as Hassaku, a day when farmers wished for a good harvest and gave gifts to those around them as a show of gratitude.

Today, geiko and maiko in Kyoto’s Gion District visit teahouses one-by-one to say thank you to the teahouse madams and their various teachers.

Central Kyoto saw temperatures of over 35 degrees Celsius or 95 Fahrenheit for 13 consecutive days.

Geiko and maiko wore traditional clothing as they made their rounds throughout the district in hot summer temperatures.

Various parts of Japan also recorded high temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius or 104 Fahrenheit on August 2.

Officials are calling on the public to take appropriate heatstroke prevention measures as the heat is expected to continue.