Kawasaki Halloween

In 1997, when Halloween was still relatively unknown in Japan, the city of Kawasaki organized this event with the aim of revitalizing Kawasaki and draw attention to it throughout the country.

When it was first held, about 150 people participated in a parade drawing about 500 onlookers. This event grew larger over the years so that by 2016 more than 2,600 people participated in the parade and the and about 120,000 lined the road to watch, thus making it Japan's largest Halloween event.

The Halloween Parade is still the main event and the Shinkawa-dori that runs from the East Exit of the JR Kawasaki Station, is closed to traffic to accommodate the throngs of spectators.
This event also is a large-scale masquerade contest with a Halloween Award given to participants for interesting costumes.

The aim of the gathering is to make it a family event that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike and participation by a large number of families is a feature of it.

Other related events centered around La Cittadella also draw large crowds.

*Please check the official website for details on various tickets and schedules.