The latest dance craze to sweep Japanese nightclubs is the para-para , a uniquely Japanese concept in which hand movement plays an essential role. It is like the Bon dances performed every year in July or August, when citizens parade around to the accompaniment of traditional Japanese festival music. Twinstar, a nightclub in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward, for instance, turns into a para-para wonderland on Tuesday nights, when it gets packed wall to wall with young people. Serious dancers climb on stage and motion the para-para moves to those on the dance floor, all of whom follow in unison. It is strange to see everyone dancing the exact same moves at once.
Opinions vary as to the origin of the dance.
Some say it developed in the early 1980s with the notorious takenoko-zoku subculture that danced the streets of Harajuku, one of Tokyo's major hubs for young people. Others say that the onomatopoeic name describes the hand motions that characterize the dance. The resurgence of the dance remains unexplained. Soon after, para-para nights were scheduled at trendy clubs across the nation, beginning in Tokyo and Sapporo. And at the end of the year, a para-para championship event was held in Tokyo.