Tens of thousands of people have attended an event that brought together six major summer festivals in Japan's northeastern region.

The Tohoku Kizuna Festival was held for two days through Sunday in Akita City.

The event was established to help the region recover from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. Six prefectures take turns as host.

The main event was a parade at a stadium, where the number of spectators was limited to 8,000 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The audience applauded when performers from Akita's Kanto festival hoisted long bamboo poles adorned with paper lanterns in windy conditions.

Dancers from Yamagata's Hanagasa festival waved straw hats decorated with red fake flowers.

One woman said that it was impressive to see major festivals combined into a single event. She said that although the weather was not ideal, the audience was enthusiastic.