Bringing New Light to Tradition—THE LIVELY at Azabujuban Summer Night Festival
On August 23 (Sat) and 24 (Sun), the Azabujuban Summer Night Festival 2025 was held in Minato-ku, Tokyo, hosted by the Azabujuban Shopping Street Promotion Association.
For the third year in a row, THE LIVELY TOKYO AZABUJUBAN joined the festivities by opening its own festival stall.
The Azabujuban Summer Night Festival is a community-driven tradition, organized almost entirely by the members of the local shopping street association, who set up and run their own food stalls. Over time, it has become one of the area’s most beloved summer celebrations, attracting visitors from near and far.
This year, the festival featured over 100 booths stretching along the main street and nearby alleys. From soba restaurants with more than 230 years of history to embassies showcasing their national flavors and even young influencers debuting cutting-edge eateries, each stall told a different story of the city. Together, they created a vibrant and colorful scene that captured the diversity of Azabujuban.
At Patio Jūban, a multipurpose square developed during postwar redevelopment, the stage came alive with jazz performances by local elementary school students and live shows by well-known enka singers. Further toward Shibuya, Ajiro Park transformed into a bustling “Children’s Corner,” filled with traditional festival games like target shooting and yo-yo fishing, where families gathered to play and laugh throughout the day.
Festival Stalls Sell Out, Lounge Welcomes Over 280 Visitors
This year marked THE LIVELY TOKYO AZABUJUBAN’s third appearance at the Azabujuban Summer Night Festival. Although the hotel opened in 2019, the event was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, postponing our debut. After two successful years of participation, we returned this summer with fresh ideas and new offerings.
The star of our stall was two types of freshly grilled brochettes. The first: thick slices of beef tongue, marinated with lemon to bring out its deep umami flavor. The second: smoky, barbecue-flavored lamb skewers with a gentle sweetness. Both were paired with our original Earl Grey Highball, making them the perfect summer-night match.
Each skewer alternated juicy cuts of meat with colorful paprika and shishito peppers, striking the ideal balance between richness and freshness. After fine-tuning the recipes and cuts through careful trial and error, the brochettes were an instant hit—selling out completely on both days. In a neighborhood already celebrated for its gourmet scene, this was proof that our flavors could stand proudly among the best.
For the first time, we also opened our second-floor lounge to festival-goers. Guests who purchased food or drinks from our stall received a wristband granting them access to the lounge, where they could cool down and take a break from the summer heat and crowds.
At the lounge bar counter, we offered a different lineup from our outdoor stall, including freshly squeezed citrus sours made with orange and grapefruit, as well as yuzu soda. Walk-in guests who ordered a drink could also enter, while staying hotel guests enjoyed a complimentary drink during the festival.
From 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., when the stalls began closing, live DJs performed energetic sets that filled the lounge with uplifting beats, keeping the festive atmosphere alive. In total, more than 280 people—including hotel guests—made use of the lounge over the two days. As one of the few quiet spots along the busy Azabujuban street, it was warmly received as a place to relax, plan the rest of the evening, and reconnect with the neighborhood’s sense of community.
Restoring the role of the hotel as a landmark for the neighborhood is one of the pillars of THE LIVELY brand, and this initiative will continue at the 2026 festival.
What the Festival Means to Us
At LIVELY HOTELS, one of our guiding philosophies is to actively engage with the communities where our hotels are rooted. For THE LIVELY TOKYO AZABUJUBAN, the Summer Night Festival is a special opportunity to feel the pulse of the Azabujuban neighborhood and become part of its story.
The name “Azabujuban Summer Night Festival” came into use in the mid-1960s, but summer festivals in the area can be traced back to the Edo period. Over the decades, creative events such as an international bazaar supported by around 30 embassies and a summer snow festival featuring real snow transported from Gifu Prefecture have drawn attention. Even now, with simpler programming, the festival still welcomes around 300,000 visitors over two days, making it one of Tokyo’s largest summer gatherings.
For much of the 20th century, Azabujuban was known as an “island cut off by land,” surrounded by hills and lacking convenient transportation even as nearby Roppongi rapidly urbanized. When the long-awaited subway lines opened in 2000, some worried the area’s charm might be lost. Yet the Summer Night Festival has remained a symbol of the neighborhood’s resilience—an effort to preserve its intimate, community-based identity while raising its profile.
For us, being able to add our own stream to this long-running river of history is an invaluable experience. As both a neighbor and a hotel, THE LIVELY TOKYO AZABUJUBAN will continue to explore its role—during the festival and beyond—striving to be an essential part of this community.