Outdoor barbecue and beer sounds like a great way to celebrate the arrival of warm weather. A ten-day festival combining the two sounds even better. Who doesn’t want an exponentially expanded selection of delicious food and drinks? Now add live music, dance performances and other entertainment, and you have a festive community gathering absolutely worthy of your time.
BB Fest, taking place in Odaiba, Tokyo April 27th to May 6th, features professional vendors serving styles of barbecue from all over the world. Barbecue, understood in simple terms as vegetables and meat grilled over a flame, exists in most cultures around the world–it’s probably the most primitive food style of mankind. Of course, different cultures give rise to different flavors and ingredients. It’s time to get your barbecue passport stamped. BB Fest vendors will offer barbecue styles from Brazil, Italy (seafood!), Australia, Spain, Chile, Jamaica, various parts of America, and more. International styles of barbecue have been gaining popularity in Japan, with multiple specialty restaurants gaining devoted followings across Japan. More than a few of them serve great beer, too. Come see what the excitement is about.
The festival’s beer vendors include several of Japan’s best craft breweries, two respected importers of craft beer and other notable businesses. From the Japan side, expect the latest from DevilCraft, Fujizakura, Ise Kadoya, Minoh, Shonan, TDM 1874 and perhaps others (in anticipation of increased numbers, the organizers are considering adding others). Most of these breweries have won numerous medals at the World Beer Cup–the beer world’s Olympics. Expect a lot of high-quality beer to go with your barbecue. AQ Bevolution and Beer Cats, meanwhile, import great craft beer mostly from America. Pioneering craft brewery Goose Island will also be pouring. Rounding out the selections, there will be cider from Aspall, and selections from Warrior Celt, one of Tokyo’s longest-running pubs.
The entertainment is as impressive as the food and drink options. Perhaps the biggest highlight is Les Grands Ballets de Tahiti (performing on May 4th), an exciting and sexy Polynesian dance troupe that combines the traditional with the modern. Popular sumo wrestler turned crooner Konishi (from Hawaii) will be both cooking Hawaiian barbecue and providing some entertainment of his own (April 28th). Even if you can’t attend on these days, the others will have plenty of great acts to charge up the atmosphere. Like the food, the music and performances span genres, from electric and acoustic rock to the ambient sounds of DJs. One of our favorites is the TexiCajuns, a sizzling blues-rock band with the swampy sounds of Louisiana and Texas.
BB Fest is of course family friendly. There will be non-alcoholic drinks and the Yume no Hiroba outdoors space in Odaiba is a safe environment. It’s only a minute from the Tokyo Teleport Station, too. It runs noon to 10pm on weekdays, and 11am to 10pm on Saturday, Sunday and holidays (the event overlaps Golden Week). There’s no entry fee; it’s pay as you order. Enjoy the culinary journey!
More information: http://www.bbfest.jp/en/index.html
