Music Festival in Hokkaido Vol.1

Hello! I'm Yuno. 

I like to see live performances of Japanese rock bands and I also like music festivals, so next two times I'll introduce them. There are two big music festivals in Hokkaido.

Today, I'll write about “Join Alive”.

What is Join Alive?

It is held in July in Iwamizawa Park. It was held in 2010 for the first time, so last year was the 10 year anniversary. The venue includes the amusement park ”Hokkaido Green Land” and an outdoor concert hall “Kitaon”, so a lot of people including children can enjoy not only seeing live performances but also riding attractions. And there is a campground in the park, so a lot of visitors take full pleasure in Iwamizawa Park. 

So, I’ll write about some features of this festival.

The amusement park

As I wrote above, this is the biggest feature of Join Alive.  Actually last year I went to Join Alive, but I didn't ride any attractions because I and my friend were busy seeing all the live performances which each of us wanted to see. And, one of the stages is in the hall of the amusement park, which is usually used for special shows like circuses. My favorite band Go! Go! Vanillas appeared on this stage last year. I saw them from the second or third row.

Next, I’ll pick up the other feature of this festival.

Alternative Garden

This is an area conducted by students of Hokkaido University of Education in Iwamizawa. In this area, you can enjoy some other culture except music, like arts or nature and people who don’t have the ticket can enter into this area. Furthermore,  children can enjoy playing protected by students of sports education major.

I think this is very precious experience for students because they can take part in planning and managing for a big event. I want to join!

The workshop project Animalive is held every year. In this project, a big animal object is made by the audience and artists. Last year, a big flamingo was made. The theme of this object is “memory” because last year was the 10th anniversary of Join Alive.

Here are links of Join Alive and the Twitter account of Alternative Garden.

https://joinalive.jp/2020/

https://twitter.com/JOINAlternative?s=21

This year, as you know, Join Alive wasn’t held because of COVID-19. I strongly hope that this event will be held next year. (Yuno)