Kawagoe kimono days

Yesterday, November 15th, was national kimono day in Japan. But as I wrote in that post, some cities and towns separately run their own "kimono day". I gave the example of the tourist destination Kawagoe city, which is a tourist town just half an hour from Tokyo. In this post I share a bit more about their "Kimono days".

Kawagoe Kimono Days

The 8th, 18th and 28th of each month is "Kimono day" in Kawagoe city. Kawagoe, which is known as Little Edo (Koedo), is a timeslip town. In simple terms; people in kimono really fit in with the aesthetic of the old buildings. Thus, Kawagoe city decided to promote the wearing of kimono to add to the overall "old town" feel of the tourist area. To that end, they made the 8th, 18th and 28th kimono days. 

To incentivize people to participate, various stores offer a discount to people wearing kimono on these days. Jimbei and yukata are not included in "kimono", but yukata is. The feature photo is of people wearing yukata in the summer, when the pinwheels were up at Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine. However, please note, some of the participants only offer discounts on one of the three dates.  In 2025, there are 100 stores / services who offer a discount or a commemorative keepsake on one, two or all three of the kimono dates. 

To give you an example, you can enter Honmaru Goten, Kawagoe Festival Museum and Kawagoe Museum at the group rate rather than the individual price. Some of the restaurants that participate give a free coffee or a free topping or some sort of freebie as part of the campaign. Moreover, some of the kimono rental services, and there are quite a few in Kawagoe, give a discount on the 18th of the month. You can pick up information at the various tourist information centers around the old town.

Have you ever worn a kimono or yukata while touring Kawagoe or any other city?