If you've ever wished that you could defy gravity, birdman events might be up your alley. The Japan International Birdman Rally has been running for over four decades now, and involves participants attempting to fly, or rather glide, using homemade flying contraptions.
A temporary jetty is installed on Shiga's Lake Biwa for the event, and there are two categories for participants — the glider division (on the Sunday) and the manual propeller aircraft division (on the Saturday). To give some idea of what to expect, recent year's events saw the glider division reach a distance of 533.58m (a new event record), and the manual propeller aircraft division reach 36,868.80m.
If you plan to watch the event, do note that the starting time differs each day. On Saturday, the start time is 7.30am, and on Sunday kickoff is bright and early at 6am.
The Birdman Rally typically starts early in the morning for spectators. For example, in 2024, the event began at 6:30am on the Saturday and 6am on the Sunday.
The 29th July is a Tuesday