The Akune Sangyo Matsuri (Akune Industry Festival) is a customary year-end festival beloved by the people of
Akune City. It is Akune City's largest festival, held every year on the third weekend of December. During
the festival, around 8,000 people visit the festival, mostly families.
This festival is full of buyers who come here to buy year-end foodstuffs at the specialty item sales corners
where numerous farm and seafood products, processed goods, and manufactured goods are all sold in one place.
The pride of Akune City's farm and seafood products is their high quality due to the abundant environment and warm climate they are raised in. The catchphrase "Akune Umaine Shizendane" (Akune: Delicious and Natural) has spread all throughout the country of Japan, reflecting how esteemed their products are. And the #1 best place to find the wealth of Akune's mountains and seas is at the specialty product corners. There are around 50 exhibitors that gather to sell their goods.
The items that generally fascinate most visitors are the fresh fish products that are caught in the East China Sea, as well as citrus fruits such as bontans and dekopons. Naturally they have their bestselling standard products, as well as a variety of interesting new products. At the venue entrance you can also pick up exclusive coupons that come with a lottery ticket attached (1 set for 1,000 yen.) The buyers never tire of these valuable tickets, which can win you wonderful items like big-screen TVs.
The lineup of local government booths that do cultural exchanges with Akune City is one of the Industry Matsuri's other attractions. These booths contain a number of highly characteristic products from their respective local governments; participating cities include Nagaski Prefecture's Hasami-cho, Kumamoto Prefecture's Taragi-cho, Miyazaki prefecture's Ebino City, Kagoshima Prefecture's Isa City and Satsumasendai City, among others. Also, since 2011 Fukushima Prefecture's Minamisoma City has been courteously invited to the festival. At their booth they conduct sales to help fund earthquake recovery efforts, an excellent example of the warm relationship between the exhibitors and the festivalgoers.
The food sampling corner has been established for those interested in savoring the delicious blessings of Akune's mountains and seas. The must-have item in winter is shishijiru (boar meat soup). Akune's boar meat has no smell and is very tender. If you're feeling chilly from the cold weather, the hearty ingredients in this soup will warm you right back up. Also, the Kitasatsuma Fishing Industry Cooperation Association's girls division will treat you to fried shrimp and herring. These perfectly crispy fried seafood items are delicious from their heads all the way to their bones. The food samples are limited, however if you want more the food and drink corner is fully stocked. This corner has a ton of things to try, such as butamiso croquettes, jibie curry, udon, onigiri, and more.
Numerous exciting stage events take place over the 2-day period, including folk entertainment, dancing, musical shows, mochi pounding, and health gymnastics courses. One of the most hyped events is the Kagoshima Vocational High School's Rhythmic Gymnastics Club performance. Their never-before-seen playful and fun performance in the 2016 Interscholastic Athletic Meet became a huge YouTube hit, boasting over 1 million views. Their YouTube success has drawn huge crowds of people to see their live performances.
The highlights of their performances include their comical and acrobatic techniques that they perform in rapid succession, often to popular anime songs or idol songs. Appreciation for them is shown with loud laughter and wild applause from the audience.
MAP＆INFOMATION
