How to Join Nebuta as a Dancer: The Haneto Costume Guide

Most visitors to the Nebuta Festival watch from the roadside. This is the default. It is also a significant underutilisation of what Nebuta offers, because Nebuta is one of the few major Japanese festivals that actively welcomes anyone — including foreign visitors — to participate as dancers.

The haneto (跳人) are the dancers who accompany each illuminated float, chanting "Rassera, rassera" while performing a jumping step. There are no auditions. No registration. No Japanese language required. You put on the costume and join. This guide covers how.

The Haneto Role

Haneto literally means "jumping person." The dance is a high-stepping jump, both feet leaving the ground, performed repeatedly for the length of the parade (approximately 45 minutes per float). The chant — "Rassera, rassera, rasse, rasse, rassera" — accompanies the step. It has a rhythm that is easy to learn and hard to stop once started.

Haneto surround each float on three sides, facing outward toward the crowd, with the float moving behind them. The visual effect from the crowd is of a wall of colour and sound. From inside the procession, it is disorienting and exhilarating — the crowd, the lights of the float, the drums, the chant, all simultaneously.

The Costume

Festival

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The haneto costume (hanetogoromo) consists of seven items: a yukata (cotton kimono) in a specific Nebuta pattern, a heko obi (wide fabric belt), a straw hat (sugegasa) decorated with paper flowers, a towel at the neck, wrist guards, tabi socks with zori sandals, and bells attached to the obi. The bells — the most distinctive element — ring with every jump.

The yukata pattern is regulated by the festival: a bold design incorporating the Nebuta theme colours (red, blue, gold, black). Not all yukata are identical; teams and individual designs vary within the theme. The full costume purchase costs ¥5,000–8,000. Rental is available for approximately ¥3,000–4,000 per evening.

Where to Get the Costume

Purchase: department stores in Aomori city (Michinoku Ginga and Auga near the station) stock full costume sets from mid-July. Festival-dedicated shops along the waterfront sell individual components.

Rental: the Aomori Nebuta Festival official rental service operates from a designated location near the parade start point (Shinmachi area). Rental opens from early afternoon on each parade day. Arrive by 5pm to guarantee availability.

The Nebuta Warasse Museum also coordinates haneto participation programs for international visitors. Reservation through the museum's official website (Japanese only, but email inquiries in English are handled) is the most reliable approach.

How to Join the Parade

With a costume on, you join the haneto section of any float that accepts independent participants. Most floats operated by neighborhood associations and community groups welcome independent haneto; corporate floats may be members-only. Look for the float teams assembling in the staging areas before the parade begins (usually from 6pm).

Introduce yourself to the float captain or the team leader — a slight bow and "sanka shite mo ii desu ka?" (Can I join?) is sufficient. In practice, most teams accept any correctly costumed participant without ceremony. The communal nature of the festival means a foreigner in a haneto costume is a point of celebration rather than friction.

What to Expect

The parade route is approximately 2.3 kilometres. Haneto walk-jump the full distance, usually completing it in 60–90 minutes depending on crowd pace. The physical demand is moderate — it is sustained movement rather than intense athletics, but the jumping accumulates. Wear comfortable footwear under the tabi socks.

The experience from inside the parade is loud, warm, and communal in a way that is unusual in Japan. The crowd along the route makes noise — cameras, applause, children reaching out to touch the costumes. By the end, you understand why the haneto chant is also called a jubilation.