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Akita Prefecture holds a self-promotional festival, offering food and performances; Akita University, NTT East presents AI guide

Akita Prefecture holds a self-promotional festival, offering food and performances; Akita University, NTT East presents AI guide The Yomiuri Shimbun
Performers hold giant lanterns at Area Nakaichi on May 25 in Akita City.

AKITA โ€” A festival featuring gourmet food and traditional performing arts from across Akita Prefecture was held in Akita City from May 25 to 26.

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The Yomiuri Shimbun
Food stalls in Area Nakaichi

‘This is Akita! Food and entertainment festival 2024โ€, the seventh edition of the festival, which started in 2016, took place this year in four locations, including Area Nakaichi in the city’s Nakadori district and a plaza in front of JR Akita Station.

About 20 vendors lined up at Area Nakaichi to sell local specialties such as negiyaki โ€“ okonomiyaki-style pancakes with shirakami-negi, a famous variety of leek grown in Akita โ€“ and Inaniwa udon noodles on May 25.

โ€œDrink a lot and eat a lot,โ€ Governor Norihisa Satake encouraged people during the opening ceremony.

The two-day festival featured 20 performing arts groups from 18 municipalities, such as the Akita Kanto Festival from Akita City, the Nishimonai Bon Odori from Ugo Town and the Tsuzureko Big Drums from Kita-Akita City.

โ€œIt was fun to watch the shishi lion open and close its mouth,โ€ said a second-grader from Nakadori Elementary School, who watched performances with his family.

AI-powered event guide

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The Yomiuri Shimbun
A booth with an AI guide program

At the festival, Akita University and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corp.’s Akita Branch set up a booth to showcase their artificial intelligence-powered sightseeing guide program. The AI โ€‹โ€‹provided conversation guidance on a screen, saying things like “A drumming performance seems to have just begun on stage,” or “Let’s try meat-wrapped kiritanpo (pounded rice) next,” along with the photos of the locations.

Akita University Graduate School of Engineering Science Prof. Masatoshi Arikawa, who designed the program, said the guide is also available for use via smartphones based on the user’s location, and research is being done for practical use.

โ€œWe hope this will be helpful in learning about history and other topics in an easy-to-understand conversational style, while utilizing existing tourism resources,โ€ Arikawa said.

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