Whilst walking along a street in Roppongi I noticed a crowd walking along the busy main road. Catching up with them, I saw a group of parents surrounding a group of children carrying a mini-mikoshi (portable shrine).
There was a call-and-response shout between the kids and some of the adults in the procession. Every 10 minutes or so the group would have a break from walking and local shopkeepers would come out with sweets or bananas or drinks to refresh the kids. One of the shopkeepers even gave me one of Doraemon‘s favourite snacks (Dorayaki) – a sweet bean paste pancake sandwich.
Later that evening in another district of Tokyo I came across another procession, this time with only adults carrying huge mikoshis (portable shrines) and followed it as it wound through the streets late into the night..
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