Kawagoe Festival
One of Greater Tokyo's most spectacular traditional matsuri festivals, the Kawagoe Festival has been going for more than 370 years. The matsuri is famous for its huge floats parading along the city’s kurazukuri (old architecture) streets. Make sure you stay until the evening when the floats are lit up and the festivities reach their peak in a cacophony of drums, bells, flutes, moving floats and dancing, known as hikkawase.
The festival float parade is held in front of city hall on Sunday (around 1.30pm-4pm) while the festival float light-up takes place on Saturday (around 6pm-7pm). If you're only coming for the main event, hikkawase is held throughout the evening on both Saturday and Sunday.
You'll also find fringe events on both days, including a traditional acrobatic ladder performance (around 6.20pm) and a mikoshi (portable shrine) parade (from 1pm at Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine) on Saturday.
For the detailed event schedule, visit here.