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169 Festivals*
and Fairs (USA
vs. Japan): Key words; County Fair, State Fair, World Fair, Job Fair, College
Fair (posted: 051004, modified: 051012)
Since Minnesota is one of the northern states, we usually start celebrating
spring in May. From May to Labor Day (the first Monday of September)
and especially July through Labor Day, it is festival time in Minnesota! There
are city festivals, county fairs, and the Minnesota State Fair*at
the end: See our
Photo Gallery >
Minnesota Events > 7 or 8 - 9 > for example, Ramsey County Fair, Washington
County Fair, Minnesota State Fair;
Newsletter 4
Here in Minnesota, believe it or not, there are 95 county fairs and one state
fair. In
Japan, there
are many town festivals, and city ones, but
we
don’t
think that county (gun in Japanese) fairs and state (ken in Japanese,
prefecture) fairs
are popular as far as Aichi-ken** (prefecture) is concerned.
Ummm…
prefectures, whose income strongly depends on agricultural produce, may have
these fairs even in Japan.
Anyways, the fact that county fairs and the prefecture fair aren’t popular in
Aichi-ken (prefecture),
has been puzzling me a long time. I am thinking that one of the reasons why
county fairs are popular and the State Fair is held
in
Minnesota
is due to small
populations on large lands. In other words, most cities and townships here don’t
have big populations. So it’s
good for them to hold county fairs to enjoy festivals with many people.
In addition,
Minnesota can afford to have large county fair grounds and state fair grounds
since they have lots of unused land while Japan doesn't have this. It may be considered as the 2nd reason.
* American G: “I can't really think of any township festivals so I took that
out. There might be some, but I don't recall hearing of any. We mostly have just
city, county, and state.”
** Aichi
Prefecture
hosted the 2005 World Fair ( EXPO 2005 Aichi) <
http://www-1.expo2005.or.jp/en/index.html >. Aichi has the City of Nagoya
(3rd or 4th largest city in
Japan)
and the City of Toyota. Americans are often saying that world fairs became less
popular 15 years ago or so in the U.S.
Note:
(1) Township < City < County < State So I think townships in Minnesota
correspond to towns in Japan.
(2)”Fair” means "a competitive exhibition (as of farm products) usually with
accompanying entertainment and amusements," according to Merriam-Webster
Dictionary. The fairs for both county fairs and state fairs match this meaning.
(3)
In addition to the
county fairs and state fairs, there are many other fairs such as world fairs,
job fairs (to find a job), and college fairs (to choose the right college). We
very often hear of the job fairs and college fairs.
Job Fair:
for example, <
http://www.deed.state.mn.us/events/ > <
http://www.techexpousa.com/index2.cfm > Online Job Search <
http://www.monster.com >
College Fair: for example <
http://test.nacacnet.org/MemberPortal/Events/CollegeFairs >
Newsletter List
Explore America Info (Explore The
U.S. Info): American culture & tips on how to say it in English; Explore USA
Info includes Explore Minnesota Info and many fun photos.
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