ASAGAYA TANABATA FESTIVAL

The Face of Asagaya For 70 Years
[updated July 2024]

The Asagaya Tanabata Matsuri, or “Star Festival”, is one of the major Suginami summer features. It has been held in the Pearl Center Shopping Street near Asagaya Station at the beginning of every August since 1954, starting at that time with the idea of getting people to enjoy the shopping street even in Tokyo’s harsh, humid summer.

About 700 meters kilometer long, the covered arcade shopping street is filled with lots of hanging decorations. There are colorful streamers which flow beautifully in the wind and are the more traditional Tanabata style. Asagaya’s specialty, however, are the inventive hanging sculptures all hand-made mainly using papier-mâché. They are cute, funny, colorful and unique, and you could visit many times during the 5-day period and still not get tired of looking at them. Anime characters are very popular and many people take photos to capture them, since every year has different decorations. You may want to share your favorites on your preferred social media platform.

During the festival, many food and drink street vendors line the streets. You can enjoy shopping and Japanese old fashioned festival games, such as goldfish scooping and more, making the event a great family activity. It is also popular with couples or groups of friends, often who enjoy the festival clad in yukata, a summer-type of kimono.

If you want to soak up the lively atmosphere of the Asagaya Tanabata Festival, the best time to go is in the evenings when it is bustling, but if you enjoy a less-crowded time to wander and enjoy the atmosphere, you can also enjoy the festivities during the day. If you are looking for more, away from the covered Pearl Center shopping street in the Kawabata Dori Street area, there are additional hanging decorations often in Icho Komichi (Ginko Alley) or illuminated fish art floating in the fishing pond at Suzuki-en. Enjoy walking through the colorful streets of Asagaya in August!

The 2024 Asagaya Tanabata Festival will be held Wednesday, August 7th through Monday, August 12th.

The Making of Papier-Mâché Decorations
You may wonder, who makes these giant papier-mâché decorations, where and how?
By tradition they are all handmade, so the staff members of each shop in the Pearl Center make them, usually outside the shop in the shopping street late after store hours. However, some staff make them in parking spaces behind their shops, some in the alley, and others work on them at home.
After the covered shopping arcade as seen today was built, they found an easier way to work on them by hanging the work during business time above the street and lowering it back down in front of the shop after closing time. Before the roof was built over the street, they had a hard time finding a place to make and store the projects. Now if you go to the Pearl Center in the week or two before the festival you will be able to see these marvelous works in progress– that is, if you look up at the ceiling of the shopping arcade.

Traditions Passed Down
At the beginning of Tanabata Festival in Asagaya, no one knew how to make the papier-mâché decorations, so some visited the other districts to learn the techniques, and also invited the leaders of the craft from those areas.

The techniques of making the papier-mâché decorations has since changed. For example, the framework changed from bamboo to metal wire. However, the method has been shared and passed down from generation to generation by the guidance of elders and groups with proven methods.

Even though the technique has changed, the cooperative attitude of the people in the shopping street has continued for over 6 decades.

ACCESS

Translation: Mariko
Photography: TFF staff