Yosakoi Soran is an annual dance festival that originated in the city of Koshi, Japan. In Sapporo, the first Yosakoi festival was held in 1992, and has been held annually every year during the summer period. It is interesting that everyone can participate in this dance festival regardless of age or work or status. It is common to see a dance group with a diverse group; a group with mixture of young and old age. Some of the dancers are not professional but they practice really hard just to entertain. This is why all dancers in the photos look really happy and passionate despite needing to dance in a costume and under summer heat! Yosakoi Festival is one of Sapporo main attraction, and there are many things to see here in Sapporo. Do not forget, If you need help arranging private tour in Hokkaido, you can use our trip planner!

Yosakoi Soran Dance Festival 2024: finding the seat

My sister in law was really nice to give us two VIP seats in Odori venue. We arrived at around 2 pm, so it was quite hot! We stopped in Odori Station and proceeded to the venue. Since Odori Park is really big, it took us quite a bit of time to traverse through crowded venue to finally find our seat!

Yosakoi Soran Dance Festival 2024: getting into the VIP seat

After finally getting through a sea of people and getting lost a bit. We finally found our venue! It was really sunny, but we were lucky to find a seat right under tree shade! We were staying in line not for long, and after several minutes, we were able to get inside the VIP area. We even got some free fans!

Yosakoi Soran Dance Festival 2024: the Show

There were several teams that were competing on that day, and we were able to see around 10 of them within 1 hour time span. I took a lot of pictures but I sorted some of the best ones here.

The Best shot

From many pictures I took, this single photoshoot below is the best in my opinion. This young lady definitely catches all the main traits of “Yosakoi Festival”, “energetic”, “strong”, and “beautiful”.