Sanja Matsuri

The biggest of Tokyo's traditional "Three Grand Festivals", Asakusa Shrine's Sanja festival is a glorious three-day weekend of boisterous traditional mikoshi (portable shrine) processions through the streets of Asakusa, with plenty of drinking, dancing, music and other lively types of fun. Held by the Sensoji Shrine in Tokyo, the huge parade draws over two million people into the streets.

The beautiful gold and black lacquer mikoshi are the vehicles of the shrine's kami (deities) and the purpose of the processions is to bring luck, blessings and prosperity to the area and its inhabitants. Many of the 100 or so mikoshi are so large and elaborate that dozens of people are required to carry them.

The bearers, all dressed in traditional festival clothing, do their best to make the journey a rough one - it is believed that the more the kami is shaken and thrown about, the more blessings will be bestowed on the neighbourhood. There are also children's processions with miniature mikoshi.

On the first day (Friday) there is an initial parade of several hundred people through the neighbourhood and a purification ritual. The second day sees the first of the mikoshi processions, but it is the third day that is the most spectacular - as Asakusa shrine's three giant mikoshi (each weighing over a ton) are paraded through the neighbourhood together with all the others. This procession starts at 6am and the last mikoshi don't return to the shrine until mid-evening.

Everyone joins in the fun on equal terms; you'll see geishas, musicians, dancers, children and even dogs wearing traditional coats! During this time, Tokyo's yakuza (Japanese mafia) openly display their body tattoos - something that's usually against the law - so it's a rare chance to see some of Tokyo's heavily tattooed gangsters under safe conditions. The crowds are huge but very good-natured, and there are plenty of snacks and drinks on sale from stalls along the procession route.