Soma-Nomaoi is a festival that recreates a battle scene from more than 1,000 years ago. It is annually held for 4 days from July 22 to 25 in Haramachi City, Fukushima Prefecture, in the eastern part of Japan. In this historical event, 600 mounted samurai in traditional Japanese armor, with long swords at their side and ancestral flagstaffs streaming from their backs, ride across open fields. Soma-Nomaoi has been designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

Photo: A young woman (C) clad in samurai costume leads other local poeple as she rides her horse during a parade at the annual Soma Nomaoi festival in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, on July 28, 2012. The traditional full-scale festival kicked off for the first time after the accident of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant following the massive earthquake and the tsunami on March 11, 2011. (Photo by Toru Yamanaka/AFP Photo)

“Itasha (痛車), literally “painmobile”, is a Japanese term for an otaku fad of individuals decorating the bodies of their cars with fictional characters of anime, manga, or video games (especially bishōjo game or eroge). These characters are predominately “cute” female. The decorations usually involve paint schemes and stickers. Automobiles are called Itasha, while similar motorcycles and bicycles are called itansha (痛単車) and itachari (痛チャリ), respectively”. – Wikipedia


Photo: A visitor takes pictures of an anime-decorated «Itasha» car displayed during the “Moe Fes in Washimiya” at Washimiya Town Hall on July 18, 2009 in Washimiya, Saitama, Japan. Itasha, a word derived from “itai” (painful) and “sha” (car), are vehicles decorated with mostly female characters from Japanese manga, anime and video games. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images)

Tattoo artist Tokyo Hiro draws a scorpion to be tattooed on a customer at the Tattoo the Earth Festival August 9, 2002 in Oakland, California. The Tattoo the Earth festival focuses on the tattooing culture and is the largest tattoo event of its kind. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A punks sticks out his tongue at the start of the annual Rebellion Punk Rock Festival on August 4, 2011 in Blackpool, England. This weekend a clash of musical cultures hits the famous seaside town as pogoing punks attending the annual Rebellion Festival at The Winter Gardens come shoulder to shoulder with traditional holidaymakers and the waltzing dancers of the Tower Ballroom. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

This photo taken on January 28, 2018 shows participants taking part in games on stage during the “&Proud” LGBT festival in Yangon. Races, games, music and fun were just some of the highlights of the “&Proud” LGBT festival, which took place in a Yangon public park for the first time at the weekend in a country where same-s*x relations are still officially illegal. (Photo by Ye Aung Thu/AFP Photo)

A tree is silhouetted against a light display during the The Magical Lantern Festival marking the Chinese new year at Chiswick House in London, Britain January 18, 2017. (Photo by Neil Hall/Reuters)

An artistic light installation illuminates the canal near the Brussels district of Molenbeek during the Bright Brussels Festival in Brussels, Belgium February 4, 2017. (Photo by Francois Lenoir/Reuters)

Revellers paint faces at Worthy Farm in Somerset for the Glastonbury Festival of Music and Performing Arts on Worthy Farm near the village of Pilton in Somerset, South West England, on June 21, 2017. The largest greenfield festival in the world Glastonbury Festival is now a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts. The Somerset Festival, which Michael Eavis started in 1970 when several hundred hippies paid just £1, now attracts more than 175,000 people. (Photo by Dylan Martinez/Reuters)