A massive Japanese festival returns this week with noodle challenges and free flights to Japan

Got a scenic (and, ideally, free) trip to Japan on your 2025 vision board? You can get just that at this year's Summer Festival at Japan Village, the Industry City food court slash love letter to all things Japanese culture. On Saturday, August 23 from 1pm to 6pm at the Brooklyn-based complex (934 Third Avenue), you'll have three opportunities to prove your mettle and potentially come away with a grand prize of free round-trip tickets to the Land of the Rising Sun.

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The free Japanese festival returns this coming weekend to bring together 8,000-plus attendees for a day of food, games and cultural performances held in Japan Village's indoor-outdoor space. And on the event lineup are three open-to-the-public competitions, each of which boasts free Japan-bound airfare as the top prize. 

Make sure to stretch first because two such contests are dance-focused: the Ouchi-no Tonosama Dance Contest kicks things off in the Japan Village courtyard at 3pm on Saturday (best dancer wins round-trip tickets to Yamaguchi, Japan plus a hotel voucher to Yuda Onsen), followed by the Kuroishi Yosare Dance Contest at 4:50pm in the courtyard (winner gets round-trip tickets to Kuroishi, Japan plus a hotel voucher to Itadome Onsen). No registration is required ahead of time for either—simply come to the stage and get your groove on. 

The third challenge, the Wanko Soba eating contest, has a bit finer print: As with the other two contest, entry is free, but an ID is required, and registration starts at 12:30pm in the courtyard. The first 100 people will get a raffle ticket for the chance to participate in the noodle-slurping competition, with the raffle drawing scheduled for 2pm. All participants must sign a liability waiver (soba contains allergens, natch) and participants under 18 must submit a signed waiver from a guardian.

If you don't want to competitively dance for a crowd or eat your weight in soba, you can still attend—festgoers can enjoy authentic Japanese food and drinks, traditional Japanese performances, local vendors and family-friendly activities and games for all ages.