Okutama Town is richly endowed with nature, and people in the town are friendly and approachable. In the Okutama area, there is local performing art that has been handed down from olden days. For example, Kashima Odori dance is performed in dedication to the Ogouchi Shrine on the second Sunday of September annually. This dance performed by six men clad in woman kimono has been passed down as an elegant and sophisticated old art. Other examples of local performing art in the Okutama area include Kuruma Ningyo in the Kawano area (puppet plays, in which each puppet master sits on a small stool with wheels to control the puppet) and three-lion dance dedicated to various shrines in the Okutama area (very old performing art, in which three performers wear headgears resembling lion heads and dance to represent some stories. each performer ties a drum to his waist and dances while beating the drum).