The seventh annual Shimokitazawa Curry Festival 2018 will be held for 10 days from October 5th to 14th. 128 Shimokitazawa restaurants will participate, offering a wide variety of unique and original curries.


Shimokitazawa, known for its unique and diverse culture, including fashion, music, and theater, is also known as "Curry Town" for its many unique curry restaurants. This event, which has been held annually since 2012, focuses on curry, also known as the national dish, and has seen an estimated 300,000 curry dishes enjoyed by many visitors. This year's seventh event, titled "It's a CURRY LAND," will feature content that will allow you to fully enjoy Shimokitazawa, the curry town.

For the main course, curry, 128 restaurants will be offering a wide variety of unique curries, including vegetable-packed soup curry, photogenic spice curry, mapo curry, smoked curry, curry ramen, and curry soba. The lineup is like a curry theme park. Each restaurant will offer mini curries and limited-edition menus perfect for eating on the go, as well as events such as a curry festival with special sale prices. You can find your favorite curry while enjoying the curries of unique Shimokitazawa restaurants, famous restaurants known only to those in the know, and special menus, all at once.
Of the participating restaurants, 16 will be serving Iwashita's fresh ginger and Iwashita's spicy pickled radish. Some restaurants will also be serving "pickled radish reverse curry," in which the ratio of rice to pickled radish is reversed.


During the event, the annual "Shimokitazawa Curry Festival Stamp Rally" (participation fee: 300 yen) will also be held, where participants can collect stamps by eating curry. Purchase a smartphone stamp card at reception to participate. Prizes available for redemption include "S&B Golden Curry 90g" (first 3,500), "Yamau Fukujinzuke Pickles (Choose from 2 Types)" (first 2,000), "Zakku Stress Releaser" (first 500), Iwashita's New Ginger Snack Set (first 500), and 200 limited edition Curry Festival T-shirts. This time, you can also get a stamp by solving the puzzle correctly, making it easier to get your hands on limited edition goods like the popular original T-shirts. Why not try solving three puzzles hidden at participating restaurants and reception desks? There will also be an event using social media to select "Shimokitazawa Miss Curry," the person in Shimokitazawa who best suits curry. Applications can be made by self-nomination or nomination by others. To enter, take a photo with a curry from a participating restaurant during the event period, post it on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook with your thoughts on the curry, the name of the restaurant, and the hashtag "MissCurry2018." The crowned "Shimokitazawa Miss Curry" will receive a three-month supply of Iwashita Foods' "Iwashita's New Ginger." An opening ceremony will be held at Shimokita Square, in front of Shimokitazawa Station's north exit, starting at 11:00 a.m. on the first day of the event. The event will begin with an opening speech by rapper and event mascot Curryman, followed by a talk session on how to enjoy the curry festival and the theme of "Shimokitazawa Curry Land." The event will conclude with everyone in the venue releasing yellow balloons into the sky to celebrate the event.

Other events will be fun for everyone, from children to adults, including a social media posting campaign in which the first 500 people will receive a free S&B instant curry, a Shimokitazawa-themed "mystery solving," a limited-time revival of curry bread from Angelica, a beloved local shop that closed last year, and dancing, live music, and theater at Pakupaku Park, an outdoor dining area on the former Odakyu Line plaza.

In the autumn when appetites are at their peak, Shimokitazawa is garnering attention as one of the three major curry events in the Kanto region, so why not enjoy the original curry from each shop while looking at the curry map distributed in front of the station and at shops?