Join Local Japanese Festival in Iidabashi!

{Join Local Japanese Festival in Iidabashi!}

Summer in Japan means festival time!
A street normally filled with the coming and going of cars and people is closed off just for this day and filled with festival stands.
Walk around with unique festival foods and enjoy scenes only viewable on festival days.
Festivals were originally held by the local citizens as occasions for worship of the Shinto shrines that populate the each of the various areas in Japan. The portable shrines that appear during the festival are said to have the gods riding on them.
Coto Japanese Academy, continuing from last year, participated in Iidabashi’s Tsukudo Shrine Festival!
We, along with the other volunteers, helped with the various festival stands and the portable shrine experience.
To begin, we helped at the festival stands.
The local citizens split into teams to make Yakitori, yakisoba, popcorn and edamame, frankfurter sausages, and shaved ice. With the large lines of customers, the our operation speed got faster and faster.
The great teamwork of all the locals and our students was amazing 🙂
There was a team that kept on grilling yakitori despite a sudden evening shower!
Afterwards, we changed areas for the long awaited portable shrine event.
Combined with vigorous chants, we proceeded forward with the heavy shrine swaying on our shoulders.
It is really quite heavy, so we would proceed while taking turns with those walking around the shrine.
The scene of the portable shrine passing through Iidabashi’s business district gave a feeling of the mixing of Tokyo’s old and new.
To all the participants, did you enjoy it?
Please come join next year as well!! (Lets remember to bring towels for the portable shrine part next year :P)