Sapporo DaiDonDen street performance festival 2016, day 2

Really tiny balls of ice cream for lunch

The second day of the DaiDonDen street performance festival I was also supposed to go to the wedding of one of my friends, so I did not really have time to see much of the festival. Since another friend was actually performing at the festival, I went to see her performance, though.

I also saw the juggler Kohei, who is (or at least used to be) a student at my university. He is good.

One of my friends was performing in a salsa dance group. After they finished, there was also some belly dancing in the same performance slot.

I also managed to catch the end of another performance by Morita the juggler before I had to go the wedding.

When I was watching the juggling, I spotted a man from Tokyo that I know a little. He remembered me from doing lots of magic tricks for him that he had no idea how they were done. Despite him watching a lot of magic in many different places all over Japan, and mostly understanding how magic is done. So he decided to give me a huge paper tube with an enormous spring inside of it (so when you open it, a fake snake that is really big shoots out). I appreciate the gift, but the timing was not that great, since I ended up walking around with this in my hand the whole night at the wedding and various after parties.

Sapporo DaiDonDen street performance festival 2016, day 1

I try to go see the street performances at the DaiDonDen street performance festival in Sapporo every year. For two days they close off the main street between Odori Koen park and Susukino (our nightlife district) and only let in pedestrians. There lots of different performers, many from Sapporo but also many from far away, entertain you with juggling, comedy, dancing, acrobatics, and more.

I liked the Kikyo Brothers, two brothers juggling together. They were very entertaining, and extremely skilled. They juggled eleven clubs without dropping them, for example. One of them I had met once before, in Tokyo. He said he remembered me

The juggler Yu-ki is always fun to watch, and I run into him several times per year. He did some dice stacking, some balancing tricks, some yo-yo stuff and his main diabolo act.

The juggler Calm was only performing once during the whole event. I know him a little, so I went to see his act which is quite different from most juggling acts. He uses some strange props in his juggling.

I like the Seshami Street Boys, two guys who play shamisen. I have bought CDs with them performing.

One of them was caught by a strong wind and blew away all the way to the nearby hamburger shop, which surprised the people eating there.

Every year I go and see the pantomime duo S'Il Vous Plait. They have a surreal humor that I like very much.

A guy I know was asked to participate and throw a club

The juggler Morita is extremely good. Many jugglers I have seen close their act by juggling five balls, which is pretty difficult. Morita starts with five balls as his warming up and he juggles five balls while standing on one leg on a wobbly suit case balancing one ball on one of his feet and one ball on his head. Then he adds one ball from his foot to juggle five balls while balancing one on his head. And then he juggles seven balls, does ballet spins and catches them with his neck. That seems very difficult... He is also very funny, and he does some very difficult stuff with a diabolo, does some contact juggling, and much much more.

There were also puppeteers with some cute puppets.

Juggling and spicy food in Toto's bar

I had time to stop by Toto's bar (near my hotel) if I skipped sleeping before going back to Sapporo, so I did. There I saw some magic, of course, and also got to see one half of the Kikyo Brothers juggling team. He did some very impressive juggling despite the ceiling being very low. I talked to him afterwards and mentioned I had seen them perform in Sapporo, at the Daidonden street performance festival. He said he was going to perform this year too, so I will try to go and say hello to him in Sapporo too.

I was also served something that was an extremely spicy pepper fruit in miso sauce. It was very spicy indeed. Since I have grown used to spicy things after our crazy Russian roulette with spicy chicken in Sapporo, I finished my plate, which impressed the other guests in the bar.

Other photos vaguely related to DaiDonDen

The Ferrari I was taken for a ride in showed up while the sun was still up.

Some people that I know doing some weird things.

"Pizza taste croissant tai-yaki"... a strange product description, but nice food.

There were lots of weird looking people moving around near the street performance areas.

DaiDonDen, street performance festival 2014

The escape artist Pepper Zero climbed into a huge balloon, blew up a rubber glove with his nose (and made it explode) and did a straight jacket escape. He also did some juggling. I later met him in a bar and talked about magic (which he also does).

Every year we have a street performance festival in Sapporo called DaiDonDen. For two days they block off several big streets in the city center and have 15 or so spots where different street performers ply their trades.

One of the few magicians this year was Kerendo from Asahikawa, who I know. We were on the same TV show.

There are lots of jugglers every year. There are invited guests from other parts of Japan. There are escape artists, magicians, dancers, balance artists, musicians, and much more. It is usually a lot of fun.

Akkey, a magician I know, did many magic performances this year. He is always very entertaining.

Since several people I know perform at the DaiDonDen, I also try to see my acquaintances. This year I got to see a lot of fun and interesting performances.

The pantomime guest artist Yamamoto was very funny.

I have seen the juggler Morita many times, and he is always very impressive. He juggles 7 balls, and he does super many spins in place while juggling, to name just two of his many very difficult feats.

Kirigamist Chiaki is another of my acquaintances. She does "kirigami", traditional Japanese paper cutting.

Yuki is a very funny performer who does a lot of yo-yo tricks and who is extremely good with at diabolo juggling.

Kaamu had a very original act.

A children's kung-fu ballet group was impressive.

Juggler Ko-hei is from the same university as me (the one I work at now).

Sakurakoji was the name of a funny woman who did caricatures while singing and dancing. She had one of the funniest stage personas I have seen in a long time.

I like the surreal comedy of the pantomime group S'il vous plait

These shamisen (traditional Japanese instrument) players are always entertaining.