Super Japan Matsuri 2016 At The Esplanade

By | May 22, 2016

Esplanade Theatres On The Bay

This weekend the Super Japan Matsuri (matsuri means festival in Japanese) 2016 is being held in Esplanade just outside Esplanade Theatres On The Bay. It promised to be an exciting night of traditional Japanese festival games and food but unfortunately it was a bit of a disappointment.

Super Japan Matsuri 2016 At The Esplanade Food Stalls

Firstly there were only around 10 different food stalls catering to the thousands of people that had showed up so as you can guess there were very long queues which hardly seemed to be moving. They were selling typical Japanese matsuri food including okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancakes), takoyaki (octopus balls), chicken wings, dry ramen noodles, ice cream and of course beer and sake! I didn’t even attempt to join the queues though as they were far too long.

Super Japan Matsuri 2016 At The Esplanade Chindonya Marching Band

Super Japan Matsuri 2016 At The Esplanade Chindonya Marching Band Performance

There was a very small section with Japanese traditional festival games including Shateki (shooting game), Senbonbiki (lucky pick game) and Yoyo-tsuri (water balloon fishing) and one or two places where you could catch Chindonya (Japanese marching band) playing and live acts. Apart from that there wasn’t much else to do or see and it was just full of people standing around or waiting for the live acts to start. There were also very little Japanese decorations around and there wasn’t much of a festival feel.

Super Japan Matsuri 2016 At The Esplanade Decorations

It was nice to see that some people had dressed up in traditional Japanese yukata (summer kimono) and there were also some cosplayers (people dressed up as fictional characters) around and even some dogs that had dressed up for the event! There was a special promotion when I went yesterday so if you dressed up in cosplay or yukata then you would receive a free coupon to play one of the matsuri games.

Super Japan Matsuri 2016 At The Esplanade Women In Yukata And Dogs In Japanese Clothes

Today is the last day of  the Super Japan Matsuri and if you come with your family or dress in yukata then you can get a free game coupon. It starts at 3pm and finishes at 10pm but I would recommend getting there early if you want to try any of the food!

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