Kawagoe Festival

The Kawagoe Festival is the closest thing left to the great float festivals of old Edo, preserved in a town that also kept Edo's streetscape. Its dashi are tall two-storey floats topped with dolls of gods and heroes, each carrying a troupe of musicians and a dancer in a mask, and over the third weekend of October they are pulled through the Kurazukuri district of clay-walled warehouses by their neighbourhoods.

The spectacle everyone waits for is the hikkawase. When two floats meet, they turn to face each other and their musicians compete, drums and flutes trying to throw the other troupe off its rhythm, while the dancers taunt one another and the crowd roars. It happens after dark on both nights, when the floats are hung with lanterns, so plan to be in the streets on the Saturday night. The Sunday afternoon has the daytime showpiece, the procession of all the floats past the city hall.

Kawagoe is a short ride from Ikebukuro on the Tobu Tojo Line, or reached by Seibu and JR, which makes it an easy evening from Tokyo. The old town streets are closed to traffic and lined with stalls, and they become very crowded once the lanterns are lit. The festival is recognised by UNESCO among Japan's float festivals. Expect a cool autumn night rather than a chill, and a return train that is packed.