Mihara Daruma Festival (Shinmei-ichi)

During the 3-day Mihara Daruma Festival the streets are taken over by stalls selling lucky daruma dolls and every kind of festival food you can imagine.

The pride of Mihara is also on display, the nation’s biggest daruma doll which weighs in at a couple of hundred kilograms.

Things kick off on Friday with a cute parade of kids dressed up in daruma costumes, but the big day is Sunday. It remains to be seen whether the general election falling on the same day will impact the crowds, but it probably is still the day with most festive atmosphere.

One thing is for sure, it’s going to be chilly. So wrap up warm!

Read and see more photos from the Daruma Festival here.