Shimokitazawa Curry Festival 2026 Opens October 8 for Its 15th Year, Teaming Up With SEGA's Puyo Puyo and Sonic the Hedgehog

The Shimokitazawa Curry Festival Executive Committee (led by Tatsuya Abe) will hold the Shimokitazawa Curry Festival 2026, a food event where visitors can sample original curry from restaurants throughout Shimokitazawa, for 18 days from Thursday, October 8 through Sunday, October 25, 2026.

Now a fixture of autumn in Shimokitazawa that draws more than 100,000 visitors every year, the festival began in 2012 and is celebrating its 15th year in 2026. For this milestone year, it is collaborating with SEGA's popular Puyo Puyo and Sonic the Hedgehog game series, both of which are also marking their 35th anniversaries this year.

This year's main visual brings together Arle and Carbuncle from Puyo Puyo, both known for their love of curry, alongside Sonic the Hedgehog, the speedy blue hedgehog, and カレーまん, the festival's official mascot — a lively illustration that unites characters across different franchises and events.

This Year's Catchphrase

With this collaboration in place, this year's catchphrase for the Shimokitazawa Curry Festival is:

So Delicious It's an All Clear!? Race Through at Sonic Speed — Shimokitazawa's 135 Shops Chain Together for the Curry Festival

The 135 participating shops are linked together like the "chain" (rensa) mechanic in Puyo Puyo, representing how visitors can enjoy the appeal of each individual shop while exploring the whole neighborhood.

Participating Restaurants and Shops

Rather than being held at a single dedicated venue, the Shimokitazawa Curry Festival takes place across the neighborhood's own restaurants and shops. This year, 110 restaurants — 10 more than last year — will each serve their own original curry. Alongside authentic curry from curry specialty restaurants, visitors can sample distinctive curry dishes at cafes, bars, izakaya, soba shops, ramen shops, and more throughout Shimokitazawa.

An additional 21 shops will offer spice-based dishes or curry-themed sweets, and 4 more shops — including vintage clothing and hobby stores — will also take part, giving visitors the chance to experience many different sides of Shimokitazawa through the event.

Collaboration menu items featuring Puyo Puyo and Sonic the Hedgehog are also planned. Details of the collaboration menus prepared by Shimokitazawa shops will be announced later on the official website.

Free Stamp Rally

The festival also brings back its popular, free-to-join stamp rally. Visitors collect stamps by eating at participating restaurants or purchasing items at participating shops, and can exchange stamps for curry-related prizes depending on how many they collect. The first prize can be claimed with 3 stamps, and by the time a visitor collects all 25 stamps, a total of 12 prizes will have been given out along the way.

The prize for 25 stamps, a limited-edition Curry Festival T-shirt, is designed with this year's main visual of Arle, Carbuncle, Sonic the Hedgehog, and カレーまん. It's a prize available only to those who make their way around Shimokitazawa collecting stamps during this year's festival.

Shimokitazawa Link Park and a Crowdfunding Campaign

Now in its 15th year, the Shimokitazawa Curry Festival continues to bring energy to the neighborhood through curry. Alongside the Puyo Puyo and Sonic the Hedgehog collaboration visual and menu items, the festival is also focused on creating spaces where participants can gather and enjoy the event together.

At Shimokitazawa Link Park, which had been used as an eat-in space through last year's festival, various programs are planned with the aim of creating a place where fans of the festival can gather and enjoy themselves. In connection with this, the festival is running a crowdfunding campaign through September 14 with limited-edition stickers, can badges, T-shirts, and other rewards. Details are available on the project's CAMPFIRE page: https://camp-fire.jp/projects/963123/view

Opening Ceremony on October 7

On October 7, the day before the festival opens, an opening ceremony will be held for the first time at a live music venue, marking the 15th anniversary. The Shimokitazawa Curry Festival 2026 opening ceremony takes place at the live house Flowers Loft in Shimokitazawa, opening with a talk session featuring Nobuto Hosaka, Mayor of Setagaya Ward, along with curry researchers Monko Ichijo and Spicy Maruyama, followed by a special live show featuring カレーまん, who is also a rapper, along with Shimokitazawa-based idol group マイナーガール and JaccaPoP, who runs a share-space curry shop in Shimokitazawa.

• Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2026 — Doors open 6:00 PM / Start 6:30 PM / Close 10:00 PM
• Venue: Flowers Loft (Shimokita Front B1F, 2-24-5 Kitazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo)
• Tickets: ¥2,400 (plus a ¥600 drink charge), on sale via Livepocket from Monday, September 7 at 10:00 PM: https://livepocket.jp/e/pt43z
• Talk guests: Nobuto Hosaka (Mayor of Setagaya Ward), Monko Ichijo (curry researcher), Spicy Maruyama (curry researcher), Tatsuya Abe (Shimokitazawa Curry Festival Executive Committee), MC: カレーまん
• Live performers: カレーまん, マイナーガール, JaccaPoP

About Puyo Puyo

Puyo Puyo is an action puzzle game series that has been loved worldwide for more than 30 years since its release. The original Puyo Puyo appeared in 1991 on the MSX2 and Famicom Disk System, followed by SEGA's arcade and Mega Drive versions in 1992. Its simple, easy-to-understand rule of clearing four or more connected same-colored "Puyo," combined with cute characters and its role as the first falling-block puzzle game to introduce a head-to-head battle format, made it a massive hit. The series has continued to evolve since then, appearing on home consoles, PCs, and smartphones, and remains popular across generations.

Puyo Puyo is also an officially certified title of the Japan e-Sports Union (JeSU), drawing attention in the esports scene where professional players compete in intense matches both in Japan and abroad. Now marking its 35th anniversary in 2026, Puyo Puyo continues to deliver the fun of pulling off big chains to fans everywhere.

About Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic the Hedgehog, SEGA's world-renowned character and speedy blue hedgehog, marked his 35th anniversary on June 23, 2026. Since debuting in the 1991 game Sonic the Hedgehog, the series has released titles across numerous game platforms, with cumulative sales surpassing 1.77 billion units (combining full games and free-to-play titles). Beyond games, Sonic has expanded into film, animation, music, merchandise, and entertainment more broadly, growing into a character loved across generations.

In this milestone 35th anniversary year, Sonic continues racing into new stages at sonic speed, bringing fresh surprises and experiences to fans around the world.

Event Overview