Linking Pinkies at Kurdish Newroz: Kurdish Festival Practice, Anti-Racist Performance, and Public Space in Contemporary Japan

This essay reflects on Kurdish Newroz held at Akigase Park in Saitama, Japan, on March 22, 2026. Focusing on govend, a Kurdish circle or line dance, and especially on the small gesture of linking pinkies, it considers how music, dance, and bodily connection can hold a place against discriminatory disruption. Reading Newroz in Akigase alongside the author's experience with pungmulnori in Kawasaki, the essay asks how performance practice can make public space livable, audible, and shared under pressure.