The Azabu-Juuban district which Usagi Tsukino calls home is one of Tokyo's most famous areas. Its cobbled streets and posh stores (there are two dog grooming salons on the main shopping district road alone!) are known throughout the city. Once a year, as we mentioned in Warriors of Legend, the district holds a big festival called "The Cool of the Evening." You can see the festival taking place in a few episodes of the anime, one in the S season and another in the SuperS season. This year it was held August 21-23, and I stopped by the first day to take photos and video.
At 10am, Juuban was a blank canvas. Apart from a few banners, there was no way to tell what it would be like later that evening.
Things began to change in the early afternoon, when many of the yatai, or street stalls, were already up and the crowds were beginning to come. Azabu-Juuban centers around its shopping district. The start of the district is demarked by a big crossing, a strange piece of artwork, and a Wendy's, but back when the show was airing, there was a big sign you'd often see in the anime and manga. (The sign is long gone, again see Warriors of Legend for more info.) Starting from there and going through all the roads of the shopping districts were rows and rows of street stalls, ranging from your typical Japanese carnival fare, to stalls selling bottles of Dom Perignon! (Truly, a Juban festival.)
Want to know what it's like to walk through this festival without having to withstand the crowds or horrible humidity? Check out the video below, or the photos that follow.
(Japanese have weird t-shirts.)
Many of the stalls are traditional stalls selling shaved ice or having games like scoop the goldfish, but many of the Azabu-Juuban stores also have booths in front of their stores. You may recognize Mamegen, which had its own booth selling its traditional Japanese sweets. This festival is a boon for the restaurants, many of whom have been hard by the recent economic crisis. (See commentary at the bottom.)
One of the highlights of the festival takes place in the nearby Ichi no Hashi park (you'd recognize it on sight; see Warriors of Legend for more info). The area around Azabu-Juuban has many of the foreign embassies in Japan, and they sponsor stalls in the park where you can try all different kids of foods from around the world! When we were there, the longest line was for the Argentina booth. I also had something delicious (whose name I couldn't remember) from the Brazil booth. Strangely enough, all America had was a balloon vendor. Americans, complain to your embassy! They should have been serving burgers and hot dogs.
The space that was once Crown Pachinko Parlor (I'm going to keep saying this, but see Warriors of Legend for more info) is now taking over by a McDonalds. They were also the sponsor of the Juuban Patio stage event, where acts were performing (think like the Taiko drummer from the S season festival episode). It opened up with a "Donald McDonald" (no Ronald; they can't pronounce his name...) performing for the kids. It was kind of cute.
There was also Japanese Elvis!
Oh, and you might have read in Warriors of Legend about the statue of the girl in the red shoes, where people donate to a children's charity. Each year at the festival they have a collection box in front of it. (There's also a Unicef box next to the statue year-round.)
At night it got even more crowded.
Even the local Inari Shrine got in on the festival.
The festival most resembles a street fair rather than your typical Japanese festival which involves a procession or dancing. However, Roppongi Hills' TV Asahi (Sailor Moon's broadcaster) is down the street and had a setup for a traditional Japanese folk dance to begin later that night.
If you'd like to see more pictures and videos of Japanese festivals, visit a website I created when I was a Japanese government fellow, The Digital Matsuri Project.
Last, I wanted to give a shout out to Savoy, the greatest pizza place in the world, located at the edge of the Juuban shopping district. I was a regular there, sometimes coming twice a week, for their amazing pizzas. If you are ever in Tokyo, you have to stop by. Their tiny shop, enough to seat less than a dozen people, only offers traditional Margerita and Marinara, and the pizzas are cooked in front of you in a wood brick oven. Friends of mine who have had pizzas in Italy have tried Savoy, and declared it better than what they had in its home country. As I rounded the corner, I looked at the shop from about 20 feet away, and one of the pizza makers (who I hadn't seen in almost a year and a half) recognized me and started waving. I'd seen some of the other staff when I was there in March of this year, and it makes me smile to think that even when I'm in New York, half a world away, there's a kickass pizza place in Azabu Juuban where everyone knows my name.
However, Savoy isn't immune to the current economic crisis. A few steps away stands the enormous Roppongi Hills complex. Partly an entertainment/shopping district, it also has the Mori Tower, a massive office building belonging to the Mori corporation (the world's largest real estate company) which houses some of Japan's top financial companies. I'd spoken with the Vice President of the Mori company in March, and he'd described how they had been struggling to fill office spaces left by now defunct financial firms. Lehmans Brothers, for example, had taken up two floors of the building. Many of Savoy's customers wored for Lehmans or other financial firms, and so Savoy has been hit as well. Juuban, relying as it does on the wealth of its occupants, who work for embassies or financial firms in the area, is part of the larger financial fabric of the world. It's an interesting thing to think about next time you're watching the series.
Sailor Moon News 
Azabu Juuban "Cool of the Evening" Festival 
