Ikebukuro’s Sunshine City to host 46th annual summer Bon Odori Festival

The Sunshine City complex in Ikebukuro is set to host its 46th annual summer Bon Odori dance festival.

The event, a long-standing local tradition, is organized in cooperation with neighborhood associations and businesses as part of a community-building initiative.

Bon Odori festivals are a cornerstone of Japanese summer celebrations, traditionally held during the Obon season to honor the spirits of ancestors.

They are community gatherings centered around traditional music and folk dancing.

The Sunshine City festival has been held almost every year since the commercial complex first opened in 1978.

After a temporary halt due to the pandemic, the event resumed in 2022 on a smaller scale and returned to its full size in 2023.

This year’s festival will once again feature a six-meter-tall central wooden scaffold, or “yagura,” where musicians and dancers will perform.

Attendees will be able to enjoy traditional folk songs like the classic “Tokyo Ondo” and a locally created song, the “Otsuka Monogatari Ondo.”

The event is positioned as an important venue for cultural exchange in Toshima Ward, an area where foreign residents make up a significant portion of the population.

A “jumping-in time” will be designated, during which anyone, including tourists and first-time participants, is invited onto the yagura to learn the simple dance steps.

In addition to the dancing, a “Children’s Mini Fair” will offer free games like a shooting gallery and ring toss for elementary school-aged children.

A food and drink corner will also be set up, with eight restaurants from the Alpa shopping mall operating food stalls.

The participating vendors will offer a variety of festival food.

• Tully’s Coffee:
  • Serving shaved ice in strawberry, Uji matcha, and hojicha flavors.
• Motsunabe Yamaya:
  • Offering karaage (fried chicken), chicken skin skewers, and shochu highballs.
• Ikebukuro Pasutakan:
  • Selling okonomiyaki, fried pasta, yakisoba, and ramune soda.
• Chazen Cafe・Kagurazaka Saryo:
  • Offering shaved ice with homemade Uji matcha or rich strawberry syrup.

The festival typically draws around 5,000 people over its three-day run, with an increasing number of young people and international visitors joining local residents in recent years.

The 46th Sunshine City Noryo Bon Odori Taikai will be held over three days, from Thursday, the 31st of July, to Saturday, the 2nd of August.

Event Information

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