Today, Sunday, August 11, the summer festival happening in Nishinomiya is the “Ashihara Local Bon Odori Festival”. The venue is the Central Gymnasium Annex, the former Ashihara Elementary School.
Here’s what it looked like yesterday, Saturday, August 10 ↓
Around 7 p.m. The crescent moon was beautiful. There was a breeze, the temperature had dropped, and it felt really nice.
When you think of the Ashihara Local Bon Odori Festival, you think of the “Shako Dance.” Its signature move is jumping around like a mantis shrimp while dancing (I’ll show you later). It’s a Bon dance unique to Nishinomiya that has been passed down for 300 years since the Edo period! Amazing
The festival runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
First, let’s start with the part everyone’s curious about: the food stall area.
What they were working so hard to make in the heat was… everyone’s favorite, “yakisoba”. These two are siblings. They worked together perfectly.
Yakisoba was 300 yen! I wanted some so badlyyyyy!!
Shaved ice was 100 yen!! They had strawberry, lemon, and Blue Hawaii.
At the Hiraki Elementary and Junior High PTA booth, yo-yo fishing was only 50 yen!!!
Yo-yos with that same old nostalgic feel. Fully inflated yo-yos are the best, aren’t they? I like the clear ones
Whoa, with all that tempura crunch, doesn’t this takosen look way too good?
For the takosen, one person spread the sauce, another added the tempura bits…
And another added mayonnaise and aonori. Their teamwork was incredibly smooth! It made sense when I asked: a close-knit family was running the booth.
Ooooooh!! The festival star, “takoyaki,” is here!!
Cheap! Tasty!! Six pieces for 200 yen, and people were loving it!
Oh! When it comes to summer festivals, you’ve got to have super ball scooping.
But somehow, it feels like there aren’t many balls left.
Sure enough! All done.It’s pretty rare for super balls to run out. It must be really popular.
From the Fukatsu Elementary School PTA booth… The teachers were there too.
Nostalgic 250 ml cans of juice were 100 yen. Pouch drinks like Salty Lychee and Calpis Water were 150 yen. Beer and highballs were 300 yen. Chuhai and non-alcoholic drinks were 250 yen. I didn’t know Sangaria ramune was still around.
A view of the Bon dance area from the food stall area. Almost every food stall had a line.
Oh! They’re selling yakitori too!!
No way…
Ahhhhhhh! Can’t be helped. If you want yakitori, get there early. I forgot to check how much it was 🙏
Here’s another favorite: French fries!! 100 yen! What a deal.
Well, yeah.
Frankfurters were also 100 yen!!
Changing the subject suddenly: the restrooms are inside the Central Gymnasium Annex building.
Oh!!! No way.This is a spot that looks like a side entrance near the Central Gymnasium Annex.
Kikyodo’s baby castella was there like a hidden character.
There was a looooong line like this, and a Nishitsu reader told me it took about an hour to buy some.
By around 8:30 p.m., all the food was sold out. I heard there were even more visitors than last year. I was planning to buy something later, so that was a shock!
There were about four places selling alcohol and juice, and drinks were available until the end.
Dogs were joining in too.
