ikegami and the unforeseen festival : October 12 2025

October 2025 · 4 min read · Ota

people filled the streets left and right, it was quite difficult to navigate quickly. but this fun atmosphere is what makes japan festivals special. it is the controlled chaos, the ordered unorderly is an clear indication of japan festivals. you know that it is chaotic yet personal space is maintained, you know that it will be turbulent yet you won't feel afraid to roam the streets.

this was not the main plan though, so allow me to recall.

kamata station (蒲田駅)

@wittyzell out of the blue messaged of a plan to visit friend j one day, sunday was the target. housemate g came with me, @wittyzell joined us on the train at tokyo station, @appleeatingapple waited for us at kamata station just in time for lunch.

we also got the station stamp which featured screws and gears to represent its roots as a manufacturing and industrial hub. an airplane is also featured to represent the numerous aviation related companies around the area, plus the haneda airport is also nearby.

after a korean food lunch, we finally headed out to friend j's home in ikegami.

on transit

although it was on a different station, friend j's house was quite close so the gang decided to walk. we passed through this covered shopping street, sunrise. kamata in my native language kind of relates to "waking up", so we had a running joke that this shopping street was just aptly named. most people "wake up" at sunrise don't they?

one iranian restaurant had this laving door decor, very interesting.

we walked along the train tracks and must have seen 3 or 4 trains pass us before we finally reached friend j's home.

coffee break

as it was just around 3 pm, it was perfect for coffee. the gang decided to check out two coffee shops within the vicinity. we finally decided to choose this one just because there was no queue forming outside. it was a small shop, probably 4 tables in total. they also sold desserts.

here were the prices of their drinks and some food, i had hot coffee latte. as per cue, hot coffee lattes are just perfect for art. although these two hearts were simple, it is much appreciated. i think only i had the art. we also had rolled cake, it was housemate g's birthday not long ago after all. this was a very simple middle aged birthday celebration of sorts.

and the controlled chaos began

friend j warned about the heavy food traffic near the main streets, we had no clue how heavy it was. he mentioned that there will be a parade later related to the nearby honmonji temple, but we had no clue that it was kind of famous. this was how it went. we just wanted to walk around, we ended up joining the chaos.

food stall were everywhere, people enjoying the food were all excited. i ended up buying some desserts from this restaurant. it looked like a family owned restaurant, their early teenaged boy helped as the cashier, he was just adorable. i quite remembered how i too helped out my father on his business when i was his age.

even small streets were filled with stalls of all types. food stalls were the popular ones of course. and there was no end to the number of people buying or looking for food. it was very chaotic, yet somehow organized. i don't know how to explain it, but it never got to a point where the crowd became dangerous.

candied fruits were there and even chocolate coated ones too. and of course it seems that the labubu craze hit japan. or probably not that much. still stall was selling them but there was no crowd around.

we were really caught off guard by all this commotion, at least i was. i did not expect to be in a festival at all. did you know about this beforehand, @wittyzell and @appleeatingapple?

i guess this is it for now. i will talk about the festival happenings some other time.

as always, AMPING KANUNAY!

_{all content is by yours truly unless otherwise specified}

^{all photos are taken with a galaxy s23 ultra}

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