Koenji is a neighbourhood in the west of Tokyo which we had not visited before. Ingrid wanted to go a gig there (of which more another day) but we discovered that it was the weekend of Koenji Awaodori, which is a huge festival with lots of traditional dancing and music. Apparently they were expecting more than a million people to show up over the two days! I could easily believe it.
The performers are organised into teams, for want of a better word, and they all have their distinctive coloured outfits. Each team has to wait for their turn to go.
The dancing was pretty cool. Notice the old fashioned sandals these ladies are wearing. Most people had flat shoes, but all the women with the crazy hats had old school sandals.
It was big. The was a figure-of-eight route set out through the district and the parade just looped round it continuously. I guess there were around 30 teams, but I really have no idea.
Seems that everyone in the neighbourhood had set up some kind of food or drink vending, even if t was just selling tins of beer out of a cooler.
But there were also professionals at work. Did I mention it was a really hot day? These guys must have been dying.