Penang Yosakoi Parade is back for the 4th installation, put in March 11 at 4pm in your calendar for this year's most happening Japanese festival in Penang

Date/Time : Saturday, 11 March 2017, 4pm - 10pm

Venue : Esplanade, Georgetown, Penang

Yosakoi means ‘Come at night’ in Tosa Dialect from the Southern island of Shikoku. As island folk, the people of Shikoku love outdoor dancing, and its indigenous dance was the popular Awa Odori.

After the Second World War, the city of Kochi organised a Yosakoi dance competition in an attempt to revive its economy and to promote its local culture and tourism industry.

The rules of the competition was simple – like Awa Odori, dancers had to dance down the main street, but teams could apply modern twists to it and the dance-style was entirely up to the team – from the traditional, to samba, jazz, rock’n'roll, Chinese inspired – as long as they used the ubiquitous clapper known as the ‘naruko’ and their music contained the tune and lyrics of the official theme song, ‘Yosakoi Naruko Dancing’.