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🏮 Shigatsu Saishu Nichiyobi Dorome Matsuri

どろめ祭

Akaoka, Kochi (Akaoka Beach) · Every year in early April

Food stalls

224 days to go
Rooms around Akaoka, Kochi fill up while the festival is on.

The Tosa Akaoka Dorome Festival is held on the last Sunday of April every year at Akaoka Seaside in Akaoka, Konan, Kochi Prefecture — a raucous celebration of local catch and sake. Visitors come from all over Japan to the beachside venue facing the Pacific Ocean, aiming to take part in the big-cup drinking contest. In the main event, the big-cup drinking contest, competitors drain a large cup filled with five go (0.9 liters) of "Orank's sake" in one go, and are scored on both the time it takes and how well they drink. The accompanying food is dorome (juvenile sardines such as ma-iwashi or urume) freshly hauled in by seine net, letting you experience food culture unique to Tosa. The venue is about a 5-minute walk from Akaoka Station on the Tosa Kuroshio Railway and about 10 minutes by car from Kochi Ryoma Airport, making access easy.

Getting there

About 30 minutes by car from JR Kochi Station, about 30 minutes by car from the Nankoku IC on the Kochi Expressway, about 10 minutes by car from Kochi Ryoma Airport, about a 5-minute walk from Akaoka Station on the Tosa Kuroshio Railway Gomen-Nahari Line.