“I'd like to spread the playful spirit of art to the streets”

If you are a neighbor of Fukagawa, you would know that curious festival.
This is the town where every autumn, a procession of nearly 200 unique scarecrows fills this Fukagawa Edo Museum street. The anime characters, Godzilla and entertainers lit up the streets colorfully, symbolizing the spirit of this town.

The brainchild of this annual event is Toshio WAKEBE, the owner of the
Azumaya Stationery Store and the Director of the Fukagawa Museum Shopping Street Association. Born and raised in this shopping district, he has witnessed from his store everything that has happened there-- the Tokyo Air raid, the reconstruction of this town since the end of the war, as well as his town becoming deserted after the relocation of Fukagawa City Office.

The opening of the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art motivated him to start realizing his desire to bring art and fun to this town. His efforts have continued for twenty years now.

It might be what had given him the hint for using scarecrows was the peaceful rural scene near Saitama prefecture that he saw during his evacuation there after the Tokyo Air raid of metropolitan Tokyo. What is embodied in the humorous figure of the scarecrow that feels the workings of human beings, may be their prayer for peace and gratitude for everyday life.