Taito City, the heart of Edo-era shitamachi culture in Tokyo, hosts some of the Japanese capital's largest and most celebrated traditional summer festivals and events, but it's a matsuri with a much more local flavor that signals their impending arrival.The Shitaya Jinja Taisai, which took place over the weekend of May 10 - 12 this year, is based around a Shinto shrine of the same name tucked away a few blocks east of Ueno Station, in the neighborhood of Shitaya.  The annual matsuri may not grab the headlines or make the "top ten" Japanese festival lists like other Taito City events but fo…READ FULL ARTICLE