Don traditional attire and help push giant floats at this summer festival near Tokyo

The force behind opening up the Kogashi Festival to all comers, this centrally located guesthouse serves as the ideal base for your stay in Atami. Run by Machimori, a company dedicated to enlivening central Atami with all manner of initiatives, Maruya is staffed by local experts eager to let you in on all the town’s best off-the-beaten-track spots.

Besides a well-appointed bar and lounge, the hostel stands out with quirky wallpapers, tatami rooms and other thoughtful design features. Staying at Maruya is the ideal way to get a taste of local life, as guests are encouraged to head out into the town to enjoy meals and communal bathing.

After getting your bearings, you’ll be joining a workshop to learn about the background of the Kogashi Festival and how to become part of the Atami community. Guiding you along are two facilitators: Manabu Ohara, whose company runs festival-partipation programmes across 16 localities nationwide, and Yu Toida, a newcomer to the area who now pours his passion into Atami’s festivals. As the workshop focuses mainly on non-verbal elements like gestures, body language and chants, there’s no need to worry even if you don’t speak Japanese.

Over the workshop’s 90-minute run, you’ll not only learn how to handle a float and sing festival songs, but also get a handle on the mindset required to blend in with the locals.

Once you’ve started to feel like a member of the community, it’s time to head out and explore the town. On festival days, stalls offering street food and carnival games spring up all over central Atami. This is a great time to fill up on classic festival grub like yakisoba, okonomiyaki, skewered meats and shaved ice.

OK, here we go: the Kogashi Festival is finally about to begin. You’re taking part in the float contest, in which more than 20 humongous, ornately crafted specimens from neighbourhoods across town compete for onlookers’ attention.

As a member of the Ginzacho crew, you’ll don your happi coat and help push and pull the district’s float to the judging venue near the Sun Beach bus stop. The energetic chants and showmanship of the float pullers are part of the judging criteria, so this is where you’ll really need to step up your game. The spectacular sight of the floats lined up side by side in the shopping street is one of the festival’s highlights.

Once the float procession is over, you’ll return to Guest House Maruya for dinner with your fellow participants. Staff will be on hand to look after you, allowing you to eat, drink and chat to your heart’s content.

Part of the festival tradition is to share sacred sake and offerings amongst the participants – a custom that symbolises partaking of the same food as the deities, thereby receiving their blessings, purifying both body and mind, and marking a transition back to everyday life.

You won’t be drinking till morning, though. As many locals need to open their shops early the following day, the post-festival gathering usually concludes after about an hour or two – giving you the choice of crashing in your room or keeping the party going elsewhere.