In my very first theory about Inazuma I saw FacepalmeThe3rd's analysis about the common themes between MiHoYo's Inazuma and the Japan it was inspired from and that gave me a sense of the period the story would be lifted from.
Back then I thought the Fatui wanted to and were going to take over. In Japanese history that would have related to post-WWII when the US occupied Japan. Since the rest of the story was about defeating the Shogunate though that meant I believed we'd be skipping through the rest of the Meiji Restoration. Now that we know the original story was more Watatsumi and that the Fatui plot against the Shogunate failed we can actually do both.
It actually works out thematically too. Both the Meiji Restoration and post-WWII Japan center around Japan opening up to the west in order to use western technology and investment to improve their economy and infrastructure. I think that's exactly what Ayato's doing with this event and as a human that goes along nicely with the Human Age.
Anybody watch Memoirs of a Geisha? Cultural accuracy aside the movie does do a good job of showing how much Japan did to attract western investment after the war specifically America's. Tradition and culture became commercialized so western tourists could eat it up. Geishas went from living artwork to prostitutes. (that was also to protect normal Japanese women from the incoming wave of yellow fever) The Japanese forced themselves to promise just about anything as long as it could secure friendly ties with foreign investors because they needed to rebuild.
Don't worry. It's not all doom and gloom. Genshin's proven to be a happy game compared to MiHoYo's other series. (in fact I have a theory about that 
) So what Ayato's doing is probably going to be a mashup of all the stuff Japan did to modernize and rebuild after the fall of its governments. After this early period following WWII Japan was doing great with this strategy. Tell me what you guys think about when you hear the word katana or ninja. So with this positive image of their culture (totally misappropriated at the time - again tell me what you think about with katana and ninja) Japan came up with the "Cool Japan" strategy. Tell me what you guys think about anime, mecha, Japanese technology and traditional Japanese outfits like yukata and kimono. Instead of just commercializing their culture to appeal to the west they were now reasserting their culture and influencing the west.
You tell me if you think it worked
Side note: And it sucked to be China for this too because you ended up with people assuming things were Japanese when the Japanese got it from them. I talked about this before with Marvel's Shang-chi. Some weeaboos got mad that "Japanese nine tailed foxes" were featured in the movie as Chinese mythical creatures. (There were also some that thought it was Ninetales the Pokemon.....)
Side note 2: Actually from a more political side Korea's trying to do this now too. But that hasn't been as successful. Seriously trying to claim that Chinese is based off of Korean when the oldest version of Korea is younger than China. That's gonna be a hard sell lol
The new event is called the Irodori Festival. Irodori is a Japanese term about giving something color which can also be interpreted as changing it to make it better and more interesting. That's literally what Japan did. And from what we saw about the festival so far that seems to be what's going to happen.
Right from the start you have Klee eager to check stuff out. Xingqiu's running a book signing. Venti's getting drunk. And also if you guys watched the Chinese livestream (maybe from guys like TenTen or TSoul22 who could probably translate what was going on) the Chinese VAs actually gossiped while those images displayed. So according to them maybe Albedo and Xingqiu are collabing. Venti's there because he was invited as a bard. And since Klee is visiting Yoimiya Inazuma's probably going to sink to the bottom of the sea. 
Lastly Ayato himself is even a justification towards this theory. His outfit is lifted straight from Meiji era dress. I remember some of the content creators compared it to Zhongli's suit. I said that suit looked like around Nationalist period China. That would be about the same timeframe. And his "Kamisato Arts" looks more like fencing than anything I've seen from Japan. Compare it to Ayaka's style. Even the fact that he drinks boba hints at it because boba or bubble tea started in China.
Tips and Tricks from a Super Casual Genshin f2p
