Tokyo Jizake Strolling (Shimbashi Koichi Festival)
By Ryuji Takahashi
The “27th Shimbashi Koichi Matsuri (Festival)” was held in the middle of summer near the “Shimbashi Station” in Minato Ward, Tokyo, a popular hangout spot among business professionals, on July 25 and 26. The Koichi Festival was named to invite residents, workers, and visitors to the Shimbashi Station area to stop by and have fun for an hour. Many food stalls were set up in three locations – Karasumori-Dori street, areas surrounding the New Shimbashi Building (“SL Square”), and Sakurada Park – where the Yukata (unlined cotton summer kimono) beauty pageant was held, along with plenty of entertainment and outdoor events over a two-day period.
The festival, scheduled to start at 12:00 noon until the day before, was delayed until 3:00 PM due to the scorching heat. On the first day, I couldn’t stop sweating in drizzling rain due to the maximum humidity. Visitors totaled approximately 14,000 in two days. I wiped my sweat as I headed towards the Nihonsakari booth of a close friend.
Familiar aluminum can-shaped bottles (“bottle cans”) and raw, unprocessed, undiluted sake lined the Nihonsakari booth, along with chilled sake, perfect to enjoy while strolling the festival sites. I purchased two bottles of raw, unprocessed, undiluted sake and strolled through the food stalls before the rain got heavier. Food stalls sold omuyakisoba (omelet fried noodles), skewer-grilled scallops, sake by the Fukushima Prefecture Sake Brewers Cooperative, and beer, while the stage showcased live taiko performances, Hawaiian Hula, and Bon Odori (traditional Japanese regional folk dance). The festival offered great food, beverages, and live performances.
I couldn’t leave the festival in just short of an hour. I previously helped in food stalls, before the festival was canceled for 4 years due to the coronavirus pandemic. The festival finally resumed last year in 2023. Despite initial concerns over the turnout, many visitors came and enlivened the festival, no different from previous years. The pandemic popularized work-from-home and remote work, which reduced the number of commuters to the office. Yet, the turnout seemed high at the Koichi Festival, held at a popular hangout spot for business professionals, in fact, even higher than previous years. The rain started to get harder while strolling, so I sought shelter from the rain in the New Shimbashi building.
I visited the “Jinsei Sakaba,” a sake pub and restaurant introduced in a previous report, where I presented the Nihonsakari raw, unprocessed, undiluted sake I purchased earlier as a souvenir. I asked if the building got crowded during the Koichi Festival and was told business was the same as usual. The restaurant inside the building has many repeat patrons, thus customers who come from the festival during peak business hours are sometimes turned away. The owner said, “The weather is often rainy on the day of the Koichi Festival.”
Hot weather with heavy rainfall is common during summer festivals. Still, I felt excited to attend a festival that was previously canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. As the summer festival season soon ends in each region and the Olympics are now over, and once the summer baseball games are over, fall is fast approaching. Next, I’m planning to find and attend a fall festival.
The festival, scheduled to start at 12:00 noon until the day before, was delayed until 3:00 PM due to the scorching heat. On the first day, I couldn’t stop sweating in drizzling rain due to the maximum humidity. Visitors totaled approximately 14,000 in two days. I wiped my sweat as I headed towards the Nihonsakari booth of a close friend.
Familiar aluminum can-shaped bottles (“bottle cans”) and raw, unprocessed, undiluted sake lined the Nihonsakari booth, along with chilled sake, perfect to enjoy while strolling the festival sites. I purchased two bottles of raw, unprocessed, undiluted sake and strolled through the food stalls before the rain got heavier. Food stalls sold omuyakisoba (omelet fried noodles), skewer-grilled scallops, sake by the Fukushima Prefecture Sake Brewers Cooperative, and beer, while the stage showcased live taiko performances, Hawaiian Hula, and Bon Odori (traditional Japanese regional folk dance). The festival offered great food, beverages, and live performances.
I couldn’t leave the festival in just short of an hour. I previously helped in food stalls, before the festival was canceled for 4 years due to the coronavirus pandemic. The festival finally resumed last year in 2023. Despite initial concerns over the turnout, many visitors came and enlivened the festival, no different from previous years. The pandemic popularized work-from-home and remote work, which reduced the number of commuters to the office. Yet, the turnout seemed high at the Koichi Festival, held at a popular hangout spot for business professionals, in fact, even higher than previous years. The rain started to get harder while strolling, so I sought shelter from the rain in the New Shimbashi building.
I visited the “Jinsei Sakaba,” a sake pub and restaurant introduced in a previous report, where I presented the Nihonsakari raw, unprocessed, undiluted sake I purchased earlier as a souvenir. I asked if the building got crowded during the Koichi Festival and was told business was the same as usual. The restaurant inside the building has many repeat patrons, thus customers who come from the festival during peak business hours are sometimes turned away. The owner said, “The weather is often rainy on the day of the Koichi Festival.”
Hot weather with heavy rainfall is common during summer festivals. Still, I felt excited to attend a festival that was previously canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. As the summer festival season soon ends in each region and the Olympics are now over, and once the summer baseball games are over, fall is fast approaching. Next, I’m planning to find and attend a fall festival.
東京地酒散歩（新橋こいち祭り）
夏真っ只中、サラリーマンの聖地「新橋」にて第27回新橋こいち祭りが開催された。
こいち祭りとは、新橋で住む人、働く人、遊ぶ人を対象に、新橋で小一時間遊んで行ってくださいという思いで命名されたお祭りであり、烏森通り会場・SＬ広場ニュー新橋ビル周辺会場・桜田会場の３か所に沢山の屋台が出店し、浴衣美人コンテストや盆踊りなど催し物盛り沢山の野外イベントが2日間行われる。昨年までは昼12時からスタートだったが、あまりの猛暑の為、今年からは15時スタートとなっていた。私が訪れた初日は小雨が降っていて蒸し暑さもМAＸで汗が止まらなかったが、そんな蒸し暑さは何のその。来場者数は２日で約14万人とのこと。汗を拭きながら、仲の良い日本盛のブースへ。お馴染みのボトル缶やサーバーからの生原酒を販売しており、お祭りで飲み歩くにはピッタリの冷たい酒が並んでいた。サーバーの生原酒を２本購入し、雨が強くなる前にまた屋台を散策。オム焼きそば、ホタテの串焼き、福島県酒造組合、もちろんビールの販売ブースもあり、和太鼓の演奏やハワイアンフラなどのステージからの盆踊りと飲んで良し、食べて良し、踊って良しの楽しいお祭りだった。もちろん小一時間で帰れないのは言うまでもない。私は、数年前に出店者側でお手伝いをしたことがあるが、その後コロナ禍で４年間中止されていた。昨年2023年にやっと再開が出来、人の流れが心配されたが例年と変わらない多くの来場者で盛り上がったとのこと。コロナ禍で在宅やテレワークが普及し、以前よりも会社に出社する人が減ったにも関わらず、このこいち祭りに関しては、サラリーマンの聖地ながら以前よりも活気が増しているように感じた。散策中、流石に雨が強くなってきたので、ニュー新橋ビル内で雨宿り。以前ご紹介させていただいた「人生酒場」に先ほど買った日本盛の生原酒をお土産に避難した。こいち祭りの時のビル内の飲食店はどうなのか聞くと、あまり普段と変わらないとのことだった。ビル内の飲食店は常連様が多く、ピークタイムにお祭りから流れてくる人達が来ても入れなかったりするらしい。「それにしても、こいち祭りの日は雨が多いねー。」と店主が言っていた。とにかく暑いし急な雨が降るのが夏祭りなのだ。それも含めて、コロナ禍で開催されなかった祭りに参加出来るようになったことを嬉しく思う。そろそろ各地の夏祭りも終わりオリンピックも終わり、夏の甲子園も終われば、もうすぐ秋である。次は秋祭りを探して遊びに行こう。