Halloween in Tama Center 2012 (ハロウインin多摩センター2012)

It's not a tourist spot, nor a big time event, even just on a city-wide scale, but the Halloween event in Tama Center last Oct. 27-28 was quite interesting that I thought I'd post something about it. It was really not the reason why I was around Tokyo that time, that even though I brought my camera because I heard there was an event, I didn't bother to check it, and only when I came there that I realized I forgot a memory card.

Tama Center is probably more famous for being the location of Sanrio Puroland. It's accessible from three train lines, the Keio Tama Center station (京王多摩センター駅) of the Keio Sagamihara line (京王相模原線), Odakyu Tama Center station (小田急多摩センター駅) of the Odakyu Tama line (小田急多摩線) and the Tama Center station (多摩センター駅) of the Tama Monorail (多摩都市モノレール線).

My wife and I were just invited to go to this event. I heard there was some sort of illumination, but I didn't know that they were going to do it on Halloween pumpkins. It was scheduled to start at 5:30PM, and we arrived there at around 4:30PM, so we had some time to kill. There was a park near where the entire event was happening, though I wasn't able to go there, only my wife and my friends did. Why? I had to scramble to find a memory card. Good thing there were malls all over, so I was able to buy one immediately. Since I was left alone, I just took the opportunity to take some pictures of the event right before sunset.

When it was almost 5:30PM, we went back to the Halloween pumpkins, and by this time, there were already about 4 rows of people surrounding them. We just waited until those in front were done taking pictures, so the next row would move, and then they would move out again, and so on. After about 10 minutes, we're already at the front and I found myself sitting near the pumpkins. There were different designs, and there was even a Doraemon pumpkin! They also came in different sizes, so even if they were just pumpkins, looking at them together and illuminated was an eye candy.

When I got home, I searched about this event and found out that it has an official website found here.

30th Chofu Fireworks Festival (第30回調布市花火大会)

Summer is hanabi (花火), or fireworks, season, but for those who cannot enjoy one because of the large crowd during summer, Chofu City in Tokyo holds their fireworks festival (花火大会) during October. This year, it was October 20.

Unlike the more famous Adachi Fireworks Festival (足立の花火) where viewing anywhere is free, the Chofu festival offers paid seats for the best view, with the most expensive ticket pegged at 20,000円, while the cheapest cost 2,500円. We were supposed to go to the Adachi festival, but for some reason, we couldn't. We wanted to go there because according to this website, it's the best hanabi in Kanto area (関東), but the Chofu hanabi is at third, so it's a good alternative.

The festival was scheduled from 17:50 to 19:00, but because we just planned to watch from the free areas beside the premium ones, we had to go early to reserve a decent place. Viewers can use either of the three nearest train stations to get to the event - Chofu station (調布駅), Fuda station (布田駅) and Kokuryo station (国領駅) of the Keio Line (京王線). After arriving at Kokuryo station, we walked for about 25 minutes towards Tama river (多摩川). It was 4:00PM and there were already a lot of people.

While waiting, I checked out the different food stalls at the corner. The longest queues were for Takoyaki (たこ焼き), Yakisoba (焼きそば), and Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き). Other shops sold banana-choco, buttered potato, skewered beef and corn. I didn't get all the prices, but from what I remember, Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki was 500円 each, while banana-choco was sold at 200円. We lined-up for the corn, which was 400円 per cob, but it was a disappointment. It was like it was boiled a couple of days before and grilled on that day. Some of us were also supposed to try the other shops, but it was almost the start of the show and we had to go back to our place. Overall, it was a pleasant experience. The location was quite far from the train stations, but the crowd was well managed - no pushing and shoving just to get a nice view. For next year, I'd like to go to the Adachi festival, but if I still can't, we'll probably come back to this one.