Music, Dance, Festivals, and Associations

Abstract

This chapter studies Latin American and Spanish music, dance, festivals, and cultural associations in Japan. This chapter offers a brief review of how flamenco, tango, and salsa arrived in Japan to stay and how Spanish speakers have promoted the development of these genres even more since the early 1990s. Moreover, this chapter shows how Latin music is produced in Japan and provides an overview of groups dedicated to bolero, tropical music, and pop, including reggaeton. As music is intimately connected with the festivals celebrated in Japan, this chapter includes a study of major Latin American and Spanish festivals as well as the cultural associations that organize and promote them. The chapter demonstrates the popularity of Latin music and culture both within Latin communities as a way for people to keep ties to their homeland and among Spanish-speaking Japanese, who have in many ways adopted Latin music as their own.