Written by David Ishikawa
After the craziness that was Halloween, I was looking forward to attending an event that had less people, less Minions and some personal space—also it was in my neighborhood.
Having moved to Nakano recently, I try to attend all the local events such as the Koenji Awa-odori Matsuri and Koenji Fes. These are all free to attend and only take a few minutes for me to walk to but are also easy to access via the Chuo JR line and Tozai Metro line.
I saw the posters and a little bit of information for Koenji Fes and at first I thought it was just an event to promote the local businesses. Of course it is partly for that, but it is also the big autumn festival for the area. Being a bit tired from the previous evenings, I headed there around 3 pm and was hopeful that there were some interesting activities going on.
Then I saw them preparing the ring. I remember as kid, dressed in my onesie watching wrestling on television. I never saw a match in person so I was excited that I was going to see it live.
Unfortunately, that is all I had in me and proceeded to head home. I only managed to see a fraction of all the activities going on since this is a two-day event. Make sure to check the events guide to see what’s planned for next year!
