島ぜんぶでおーきな祭-第7回沖縄国際映画祭-

The central street of Okinawa’s main city, Naha, came to a standstill on Sunday – but the traffic brought only joy, it was caused by a special red carpet event featuring 39 groups and 271 special guests at OIMF7.

 

Droptop cars dropped off the celebrities from Japan, Asia and beyond, as some 60,000 people gathered to catch a glimpse of the stars. The buzz of excitement could be felt from the very start, as foreign and domestic media prepared with cameras to capture the 1.5 hour event, held under perfect blue skies on one of this year’s sunniest days so far.

The first guests on the carpet were comedy duo Woman Rush Hour, who roused the crowd, surrounded by mascots from sponsors Aeon Mall. That began a series of guests in various colorful outfits, some humorous, some traditional. Shigenobu Asato, Vice-President of the Okinawa International Movie Festival Organization Committee walked the route dressed in traditional hakama, but was soon followed by the popular Sho Aikawa, surrounded by zombies from his latest movie, “Deadman Inferno/ Z-Island.”

 

Popular Tokyo singer, model and actress IMALU, daughter of comedian Akashiya Sanma was next up and strode gracefully in front of the huge crowd, eventually reaching the purpose built stage at Tenbusu Naha center.

 

During the procession several of Japan’s most popular characters joined in amongst the actors and directors, including Tanukichi, from Nintendo game Animal Crossing. More popular still was Pikachu, from Pokemon. The clash of modern and pop culture could be felt with the sound of the sanshin playing, carried by one guest on the carpet.

Looking cute in nervousness, Saitama’s Natsuna Watanabe, who in 2012 landed the lead role in NHK’s “Jun to Ai” drama, stole the show with a chic one-piece white dress that caused all the camera to snap. Ai Hashimoto, star of “Wonderful World End” by Daigo Matsui, and talent Akina Minami also caused the crowd to smile with excitement and try to grab autographs.

Amongst the international guests, Russian director Vadim Sotscov and Cambodian actors Vandy Vibol and Cheky Athiporn looked sharp in perfect suits. The event concluded with Naha City Mayor Mikiko Shiroma proudly acknowledging the gathered thousands as Naha itself played a more key role in the success of OIMF than ever before.