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The Sagemon Girls are here to introduce their wonderful, little-known city to you.
Yanagawa City in Kyushu isn’t on everyone’s list of places to visit when they come to Japan. In fact, we wouldn’t be all that surprised if you’d never even heard of the place. But although it doesn’t have the sprawling cityscape of Tokyo, nor the deep, rich history of Kyoto, Yanagawa certainly has its own magic and wonder.
In recent years, tourism to Yanagawa has risen quite sharply, with an estimated 1.2 million people having visited last year alone. To help make sure this trend continues, two organizations in the city have come together to create a promo video titled “Sagemon Girls” to promote their fantastic town.
One of the many attractions of Yanagawa is the 470 kilometers (292 miles) of canals that stretch throughout the city. A popular activity is to hop in a boat that floats through the canal and see the city from this unique point of view.
Yanagawa is also the birthplace of two greatly revered men. The first is Kitahara Hakushu (1885–1942), one of the most popular poets from modern Japanese literature whose collection of poems and children’s songs continue to entertain to this day. The second is Kotoshogiku Kazuhiro, who on January 24, 2016 became the first Japanese-born sumo wrestler in 10 years to win a top-division tournament.
But who are the Sagemon Girls, and what is “sagemon”? One of the most famous celebrations in Japan is Hina Matsuri, a festival for girls where beautiful dolls symbolizing royalty are proudly put on display. In Yanagawa, in addition to displaying these dolls, the citizens also display "sagemon," gorgeous handmade balls that are hung next to the hina dolls. In fact, when a baby girl is born, the relatives will begin sewing these beautiful crafts in order to display them on the baby girl’s first Hina Matsuri.
The Sagemon Girls are clearly the obvious choice for who best to represent the city. With their adorable faces and matching hair styles decorated with the lovely "sagemon" balls, they take viewers through the city to all their favorite places and introduce you to some delicious local food.
Source: Japaaan Magazine
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© Japan Today
6 Comments
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Tessa
That is actually really cute! I like it, and might visit Yanagawa before all the foreign tourists catch on.
badsey3
Make a 4K (UHD) video of your city and put it on the YouTube 4K site = still not a lot of 4K media places out these and people like to see other cities in 4K. Look at the other 4K city travel videos first to see what you are competing against.
Bill Adams
Yes, of course the girls are cute, but I've learnt more about Yanagawa from the article than from the video. I would have preferred a better combination of information and entertainment.
Garthgoyle
Cool video!
Spanki
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose.
Anthony Lawson
It is silly to see this as news. It is silly that 13% of Japan's energy comes from Nuvlear Power and technology started by the USA and the citizenry believes there is no Military grade use of that nuclear material. It is silly that the Japanese populace argues over the USA Nuvlear Carrier/Submarines bring a danger, when their static Nuvlear stations pose an ever present danger. Japan has the 4th MOST POWERFUL MILITARY. Once they tear up the Old Constitution, the next day Japan will be a Nuclear Power.