Japan Fes is a fantastic Japanese street food festival that I have been keenly interested in checking out for a few years now.
Is Japan Fes East Village Worth It?
The stars finally aligned – so to speak – and I was able to catch one of these festivals while I was already out in the city for an unrelated event. While I had read conflicting reviews for the Japan Fes NYC food street fairs online, I found the one I attended to have a decent selection of hot, traditional Japanese foods at affordable pricing you would come to expect in New York City.
It was at the East Village location, about a block away from my old school and with our collective, unofficial “college campus” of Washington Square Park even more than a few blocks over. The Japanese Festival took over Astor Place and the backdrop of Japanese flags flapping in the wind and food vendor stalls surrounded by the beautiful, old architecture of New York City was very aesthetically pleasing to see.
According to the Japan Fes website, “with over 1,000,000 projected annual attendees and 2,000 vendors” they are currently claiming the designation as the world’s largest Japanese Food Festival. With locations in New York, New Jersey, Miami, Texas, Tokyo and Paris, there are more upcoming events on their annual schedule now through December 14th, 2025.
Before I left home, I came across an Instagram post advertising a freebie booth with special giveaways for the upcoming Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc premiering in theatres on October 24th. Crunchyroll seems to be having a member exclusive early screening on October 22nd and AMC Theatres are selling a collectible Pochita popcorn bucket starting October 23rd.
At the Chainsaw Man booth, you could receive mini posters (with a rubber band!), stickers, and cute Pochita headbands some of the respective food stall staff were wearing while serving customers.
There was also a general Japan Fes booth where you could scan a QR code and signup for a Japan Fes Member Card. I was told by a staff member that since the season is winding down (Summer is the peak season for these events) the most stamps I could collect would be about 10 for showing up to events, which would net me a free Japan Fes Tote Bag.
15 stamps offers a t shirt, 20 a bucket hat, and 30 a particularly aesthetically pleasing Japan Fes Hoodie.
So according to the festival’s own rules, if I attended 4 more events this season before December I could reach the Platinum Club tier. I have no idea if it rolls over to the next festival year, however.
Before I write about the vendors in attendance, I just wanted to mention that the Japan Fes website advertises a free Japanese language learning exchange group called J-Kuru. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced level Japanese language speakers are invited to attend. I’m not sure how active the group still is, but if it paused around the pandemic maybe they will start the group back up since tourism and events have begun to take place at a normal rate again in the city.
Japan Fes East Village Food Vendors
I attended Japan Fes on October 18th at the Astor Place location in the East Village. While I didn’t take pictures of every single food stall in attendance, I did get a few photos of some that caught my attention, and were selling interesting things.
Mao Bao was selling jianbao pan fried buns containing pork, chicken, beef, lamb, and shitake mushrooms. The buns had a very colorful appearance and I probably should have asked if they were color-coded to specific proteins, or if it was done at random.
Softbite sold their signature fluffy Japanese-style soufflé pancakes with Japanese shu cream and a crème brulee custard.
Yakitori Tatsu was grilling Japanese meat skewers in the traditional way for hungry passersby’s to try.
Oconomi was selling absolutely delicious looking okonomiyaki savory-style Japanese vegetable pancakes topped with rich Okonomiyaki sauce.
Sweet Crunch TangHulu sold pristine-looking candied fruits on a skewer that were so pretty they almost didn’t look real.
Catmint Wheel Cake sold Imagawayaki, or Japanese-origin wagashi wheel cakes filled with matcha custard, chocolate, matcha red bean mochi and even boba and custard mixtures.
Mr. K Katsu Sando was in attendance offering deep fried, breaded (pork) tonkatsu, chicken and (egg) tamago sando with a free tote bag with their brand name if you followed their IG page and purchased 2 katsu sando.
Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart booth offered an original blend of three different high quality specialty cheeses piped into a crunchy shortcrust pastry base. Various flavors included the aforementioned original, mango, sakura orange, ube, matcha, chocolate and egg brulee.
Karlsballs was serving up piping hot Takoyaki and is the only foreign Takoyaki business with recognition by the Japan Konamon Association in Osaka, Japan.
Sugarcane Daddy juiced up healthy sugarcane drinks that complimented the offerings at the food stalls, BentOn offered onigiri with spicy tuna, tuna mayo, salmon and karaage, and Tiger Tai offered various flavors of milk tea, lattes, and bubble tea.
Overall, the food stall offerings were interesting and while it leaned heavy on the meat and seafood side (as expected), there were numerous stalls that sold traditional sweets and pastries a vegetarian like me could enjoy.
I would like to attend Japan Fes again in a different location next summer or try to catch one of their events in another part of the city this fall.
But, tell me your thoughts: what foods would you most like to try at a Japanese festival?
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☆ In Asian Spaces
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