Japan has a long and rich history of appreciation for the arts, whether sculpture, painting, music, dramatic perfomance, fashion, or any other form. Since the modernization of Japan in the 1800s, the urban centers have come to be the focal points of artistic expression, or at least where enthusiasts could see them on display and academics could examine and discuss them. More recently, however, there has been a movement to bring art festivals out into rural spaces in Japan.Professor Justin Jesty of the University of Washington talks with Japan Up Close about how their contexts, functions and attractions differ from those in North America and Europe, and to explain their enchantments with social and historical background.