The Asagaya Tanabata Matsuri [Tanabata Festivel] is an annual 5days event that takes place in August every year. The location is the arcade called the Pal Shotengai, right across the South exit of the Asagaya station on the JR Chuo line. This year, the festival was held from 8/5 – 8/9.

Tanabata is a holiday exists in several countries in Asia. In Japan, it is celebrated on July 7th each year. People decorate bamboo branches with all kinds of colorful objects such as origami and other paper crafts. They write their wishes on a strip of paper and hang them onto the branches along with the decorations.

The festival in Asagaya uses this event as its theme in decorating the roof of the shopping arcade. Giant decorations of all sorts which are all handmade by the citizens of Asagaya highlight the event. There are also competitions to decide which one of these are the best.

Under the colorful decorations, many of the stores of the arcade put out booths and wagons called yatai, selling various kinds of foods.

People were enjoying the cheerful festival along with the snow cones and other yatai foods.

Ramune, a type of soda, is a typical beverage found at masturi festivals.