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On the fourth Friday and Saturday of July every summer, the city of Shibukawa, (the self-proclaimed geographical center of both Gunma and Japan) holds a festival to celebrate the fact that it is the "belly button of Japan".

The highlight of the festival is the hara odori (belly dancing) parade. Participants and viewers chant as around 1,300 participants dance along the streets. The partipants wear large hats and have faces painted on their stomachs.

The Numata Festival (沼田祭り Numata Matsuri) is the main festival for the Numata area. It takes place on August 3rd through 5th. The Numata Gion festival, which is said to be one of the best and most exciting festivals in northern Kanto, marks the beginning of the Numata festival.

Lots of floats (mando), each with its own festival music and decorations, are pulled around the town on every day of the festival.

A number of the communities in Numata also have their own portable floats (mikoshi) which are brought out for the festival (Aug 3rd & 4th). Some of the local shrines have especially nice mikoshi (Aug 3rd & 5th). Smaller mikoshi, carried only by children, come out on every day of the festival.

The highlight of the festival is the large tengu (long nosed goblin) masks that are carried by women to pray for the safety of their families. (They say that these really heavy masks are only carried by women, but the truth is that there are usually a number of men hidden in the inside ranks.) The tengu only come out on Aug. 3rd and 5th.

The sennin odori (thousand person dance) that takes place on the third is also quite interesting.

The usual variety of takoyaki and yakisoba festival street vendors can also be found lining the streets.

The main part of the festival takes place around the city hall and most of the festivities take place in the evening. Things are still going on even after the sun goes down.