Late Summer in Tokyo: The Azabu-Juban Summer Festival

Hello, this is Ishida, founder of I.TARU, a Japanese automatic watch brand established in 2022.

This time, I hope you will forgive me for stepping away from watches for a moment to share a small glimpse of summer in Tokyo.

Late summer in Tokyo.

On August 22 and 23, the Azabu-Juban Noryo Matsuri, one of Tokyo’s well-known summer festivals, was held in Azabu-Juban, the neighborhood where I.TARU is based.

Despite taking place in a relatively small shopping district, the festival attracts around 300,000 visitors over two days in a typical year.

One of the things that makes the Azabu-Juban festival special is that visitors can enjoy food, drinks, and other offerings from the local businesses that are part of the neighborhood throughout the year.

Rather than being simply a collection of festival stalls, it is also an opportunity to discover the shops and, more importantly, the people who make up the everyday life of Azabu-Juban.

At a local space in Azabu-Juban that regularly supports I.TARU’s activities, drinks made with regional specialties from different parts of Japan were served, while children enjoyed traditional festival activities such as yo-yo fishing and Japanese dagashi sweets.

It was certainly a hot summer day, but what stayed with me most was seeing the staff and visitors talking with one another and simply enjoying their time at the festival.

My work usually revolves around a physical object: a watch.

But beyond that object, there are always people.

A watch is not something that exists only inside a display case.

It accompanies you on your way to work.

When you meet someone.

When you head out into the city on a day off.

It becomes part of everyday life, sharing time with the person who wears it.

Watching so many people come together in Azabu-Juban reminded me that I.TARU, too, is gradually being shaped here through relationships and conversations between people.

I did not come from the watch industry.

Perhaps that is precisely why I want to continue building I.TARU without being constrained by established ideas—listening to our customers, working closely with our partners, and learning through conversations with the many people we meet along the way.

Those two late-summer days in Azabu-Juban gave me another opportunity to reflect on what kind of brand I hope I.TARU will continue to become.

Thank you, as always, for reading.

I.TARU
Ishida