Yesterday, August 23, we took a leisurely evening trip to the “La Porte Ennichi Festival”, held around La Porte’s Main Building and East Building in front of JR Ashiya Station.
Here’s what it looked like in 2024↓
The 2026 “La Porte Ennichi Festival”
In previous years, we usually visited in the morning or around noon to catch the opening remarks, but this time, we decided to take it easy and arrive at around 4:00 p.m.
The venue is often extremely crowded just after opening, but since we arrived later this year, it felt much calmer and was easier to explore! If you’re not a fan of crowds, after 4:00 p.m. might be the perfect time to visit.
↑This year’s main attraction, the “Ninja Battle Game,” was being held at Ikoi no Hiroba in front of the East Building.
↑Between the East Building and Takezono, restaurants from inside the East Building had set up festival stalls selling treats such as gelato from “Raffinato,” Chinese food from “Gofuku Hanten,” and takoyaki from “Tekoya.”
↑In front of Takezono, there were also festival games such as a coin-drop game and smart ball.
↑Along the Yamate Kansen road, there were stalls offering a prize draw and baby castella cakes.
↑There were even more food stalls and festival games in front of the Main Building, including shaved ice, a shooting gallery, and a giant dice game.
↑Up on the pedestrian deck, there was also a shooting gallery, a senryobako treasure-chest game, and yo-yo fishing!
↑There were even festival games set up inside the East Building, in front of the first-floor escalator.
Visiting in the evening was nice because the stalls, games, and benches were all relatively uncrowded.
↑Just before the event ended at 6:00 p.m., Gofuku Hanten was holding a sale, so we picked up a set of “Peking duck” and “shrimp balls” for ¥500—a great deal!
↑They have a stall every year, and the sweet-and-savory sauce on their Peking duck is simply irresistible!
↑The shrimp balls had a crispy coating and delightfully springy minced shrimp inside!
In Closing
As you might expect, some items had sold out by the time we arrived, but plenty of stalls were still going strong until the very end, so we had more than enough to enjoy. We’d always visited earlier in the day and never realized it before, but an evening trip to the La Porte Ennichi Festival might actually be a great choice!
ラポルテ縁日、行くなら何時ごろ派？
