Gundam & others crashing into each other @ Harimichi Abare Dashi (Riotous Float Festival): Photoreport
Gundam & others crashing into each other @ Harimichi Abare Dashi (Riotous Float Festival) Nihonmatsu City
Characters from Naruto, Gundam, Yokai Watch, Frozen and more have gotten their own floats.
The inclusion of anime and games is not recent. These types of characters have been appearing at this festival for decades. The festival itself, however, began in 1758.
This festival originally featured dancing like you typically see at these types of events, but as Daily Portal Z reports, apparently it started raining at one festival long ago, and a float accidentally smashed into another one. And that is supposedly how this practice, which marks the harvest, started. (Daily Portal Z heard this story from an old lady at a food stall, so your mileage may vary!)