The Koenji Awa Odori is a dance festival imported in 1957 from Tokushima by local shopkeepers hoping to draw crowds to their arcades. It worked: on the last weekend of August, around 10,000 dancers in 160 troupes parade through the streets around the station to flutes, shamisen and drums, the women in straw hats and raised geta dancing a swaying step on their toes, the men crouched low, arms up, shouting. About a million spectators pack the kerbs over two evenings, making it the largest Awa Odori outside Shikoku and the biggest street festival in Tokyo.
Find a spot early on one of the eight routes, stay for the full three hours, and do not fight the crowd on the way out: the bars north of the station are where the dancers end up.
Tips
- Arrive by 16:00 to claim a kerb spot on the PAL arcade or Chuo-dori routes; the station area is closed to cars
- The Chuo line rapid trains skip Koenji on weekends, so take the local Sobu line from Shinjuku
- Bring cash for the beer and yakitori stalls, and stay for the final groups, who are the best