The cultural event "SHIROFES. 2019" was held on June 30th at Hirosaki Castle Honmaru.

An event to showcase dance battles and extreme sports performances. In addition to local artists and performers, there were entries from all over Japan as well as from overseas in the all-style dance battle. In the "ALL STYLE 2on2 BATTLE "DEADLY DUO"" category, INOX from Spain won a pair with Japanese JENES. Nobuo Iwabuchi, the organizer of the Hirosaki Art Dance Executive Committee, said, "There were 14 countries from the entire event."

The castle tower in Hirosaki Castle Honmaru is counted as one of the 12 existing castle towers and is designated as an important cultural property of the country. “Some people came from overseas just to participate in this event because of their good location,” says Iwabuchi.

KEI (Kei Mizokawa) won the main POP dance world tournament "POP PIN' 1on1 Battle "SAMURAI"". At the dance show, the first dance by nine official Red Bull dancers and the collaboration performance of "Freestyle football" player Kotaro Tokuda and "Freestyle basketball" player BUG!?

A booth entitled "SAMURAI SQUARE" was set up in the venue. In addition to the "Samurai"-themed content, an eSports competition for the "Samurai Spirits" fighting game was held. He performed performances such as Taruyujutsu and Hayashizaki Shinmuso Ryuaiai.

Mr. Iwabuchi said, "Every time I repeat, I hear voices from unknown places and people of other genres, such as "I want to go if I will do it in Hirosaki next year." The number of visitors is increasing year by year, It may have economic potential and have the potential for tourism content."

On June 25, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it would be a break dance competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. “Dancing will continue to gain global interest,” says Iwabuchi. "The number of related videos sent by visitors through SNS etc. is at least 500,000 views. We want to increase new contents and aim for further synergistic effects," he shows his motivation.