Kawagoe Matsuri Festival 2022

Sunday, October 16 

After rehearsal and swing dancing, I went to Kawagoe for the Kawagoe Matsuri! Apparently it had been cancelled for covid for the past few years up until now. 

My friend and I had been planning to go to this festival for months! She lives in Kawagoe and she is the one who told me about it. I had so many things happening on this day, but I was so excited for this festival! I missed the fast express train (fastest without paying extra, that is) by a literal second in the conbini grabbing snacks, and got the semi rapid, which meant I'd be 15 minutes later than planned. My husband, who planned to join up with us later, ended up taking the extra money express so he arrived one train behind me. I met my friend, we walked a bit from Kawagoe-shi station, grabbed some sparkling wine, then husband arrived! We met up and walked around and, wow,  I can't even explain how in awe I was! 

She explained kind of what was going on, and I'll explain it from a total outsider who hasn't yet actually researched what it was about. So. The big wagon thingies that are going along the streets, they like have to pass each other. When they do, they have to stop and 'greet' each other, so the people pulling them have to turn them around to face each other. The wagons have people wearing masks and acting as Japanese monster thingies on them, people playing Japanese flutes and percussion instruments, along with some kind of doll on the tippy-top. Also, the tippy-top can drop down to accommodate the power lines.

We wandered, ate, and drank, then headed back home! 

A cool thing I saw a lot of was Coedo Brewery from Kawagoe is doing a collaboration with my favorite band Acidman. This is the second time they've done this collaboration. The first time was like 4 years ago, when I dragged husband all the way to Kawagoe during a typhoon to get a bottle. I still have it (empty) decorating my living room.