Takehiko (“Take”) Saiki seeks to connect the world through bluegrass music. He puts a lot of time and work into his YouTube channel. He posts videos from jam gatherings worldwide, and interviews jam participants. He also posts videos on a variety of topics related to bluegrass. He also posts an events calendar as a video slideshow (below).
The Annual Takarazuka Festival
The annual Takarazuka Festival is quite famous in the bluegrass community, both in Japan and the U.S. It was started in 1972, and is the third longest-running bluegrass festival in the world. It is sponsored by B.O.M. Service, a music mail order company founded by the Watanabe brothers, Saburo Inoue and Toshio Watanabe, both members of Bluegrass 45. They started the festival after their 1971 tour of the U.S. They also founded the monthly Japanese bluegrass magazine Moonshiner in 1983. You can view the Facebook group for the Takarazuka Festival here.
B.O.M. also holds an annual Autumn Takarazuka festival, or “camp.” Details and contact information for the 35th annual event (Oct. 28-29, 2023) is available here.
The Annual Gifu Mountain Time Festival (October)
Approximately 2 hours from Kyoto. 2 1/2 hours from Osaka. The predecessor to this festival dates back to 1975, making it the second oldest bluegrass festival in Japan.
The Chigasaki Jamboree
On Sunday, October 8, 2023 - The Chigasaki Jamboree was held from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM at the Chigasaki Satoyama Park. This is in the Kanagawa Prefecture. Approximately 75 minutes from Yokohama Station by public transit.
The website for the jamboree describes the event as a festival of American music centered around country and bluegrass, held in a prime location surrounded by nature. Admission is free. More than 10 bands are featured, from all over the country, mainly from the Shonan region. “There are many shops selling food and Western goods, making you feel like you're in America!”
Performance Schedule for the October 2023 Chigasaki Jamboree. This Image was translated with Google Translate, which caused the strange formatting.
