Tanabata Festival

 I could hear pop music so I turned up a side street toward the sound and found the entrance to an area with lots of tents. A very rough translation of the sign over the entrance is Festival of the six devils of Tohoku.

 I do not normally come down this side street so I had never noticed these parking meters for two wheeled vehicles. They have a lock on them so that your scooter can not be stolen while it is parked.

 I could not get in the main gate because of all the people. Everyone was simply standing still, listening to the music. I tried to go around behind some of the tents. This one was selling food of some sort out of the other side. I had to give up this attempt because the way was blocked so that the only place you could go was back to the entrance.

 I went back out to the main road and followed that sidewalk around to the real main gate which was to the right of where I had been. This side was also full of people so I did not try to get in. The music, by the way, was a live performance of a Jpop (Japanese popular music) group, but I have no idea who they were.

 This is the sidewalk outside the main entrance. The sign is the same as the one over the secondary entrance.

I gave up and crossed the road so that I could enter the park, Kotodai Park, where I could see many tents and a vast throng of people. This was taken on the sidewalk while I was trying to find a way into the park.