On 13 April 2024, the 4th event of Japan Fes was held in the Upper West Side from 10 AM – 6 PM. The street adjacent to Columbia University was flooded with international students spilling out from the campus and individuals who had come to enjoy tastes from back home. There were over 50 vendors from Japan selling a wide range of street food that includes but not limited to red bean wheel cakes, Tanghulu, Onigiri, bubble teas and bento lunch. Under the cherry blossom trees, the vendors were lively preparing these delicacies hot on flat top grills.
Japan Fes is one of the largest street food festivals in the world that fills the streets of NYC with Japanese delicacies. It is held over 10 times every year with over 10,000 New Yorkers spilling onto the streets to devour Japanese food from the street vendors. This venture was started by a Japanese entrepreneur, Dragon Yamamoto in 2016 who wanted to bring Japanese culture and food to the Big apple and celebrate diversity. This year the Japan Fes is planning to hold 33 events at different parts of New York City that commenced on Feb 17, 2024.
“I live in NYC and this is my first time here. I like the food because in the Japanese restaurants around here, it is expensive. But here the prices are affordable and the food is also fresh. You can also see some other Japanese cultures at this festival.” says Hyunbin, 25 who visited the Japan Fes with her friend.
There were also stalls set up for Manga comics and merchandise, music and Kimonos, which is the traditional clothing from Japan in fine fabrics.The goods were all priced economically, making the whole experience affordable to the visitors. Japanese flags were flying in the breezy air as they were hung on the poles of both the sides of the street, where visitors can scan their digital stamp cards. The digital stamp cards allow the visitors to collect stamps each time they visit and after collecting over 5 stamps, they get a free merchandise from the Japan Fes.
This is also a great opportunity for the street vendors to sign up for Japan Fes and serve talent to the buzzing new yorkers and celebrate the culture and diversity.
