The Asakusa Samba Carnival, a late-summer Tokyo highlight, returns following a four-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with passionate Brazilian music and explosive percussion filling a street of downtown Asakusa full of spectators.
Jan 14, 2021
Festivals often allow people to escape their everyday lives and experience the color and cultures of the world without having to travel. In 2020, however, such opportunities like many other forms of entertainment and relaxation were limited by the coronavirus pandemic.
One such festival was the Asakusa Samba Carnival, a late-summer Tokyo highlight that sees high-tempo Brazilian rhythms filling the streets of Asakusa, a popular tourist spot in the capital.
After scrapping 2020’s event, organizers said in December they would postpone the 2021 iteration until the pandemic has passed, announcing the decision more than half a year before the event was to be held in September.
Coronavirus rains on Tokyo’s parade as Asakusa Samba Carnival postponed indefinitely
After the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to 2021 was announced in March the Asakusa carnival organisers decided to put their event on hold
While the decision to delay seems to have come very early, the committee needs more than six months to prepare the huge event