Oarai Anko Festival 2026: The Girls und Panzer Talk Show Is on 15 November
Oarai, the town in Ibaraki where Girls und Panzer is set, holds two festivals on consecutive days in the square in front of Oarai Marine Tower: the Shoko Kanshasai on Saturday 14 November 2026 and the Anko Festival on Sunday 15 November. Both days run from 9:30 to 15:00. The Girls und Panzer cast talk show is on the Sunday, and the anime’s site says it is free to watch.
Neither the Oarai Tourism Association’s page for the festivals nor the Girls und Panzer site gives the time of the talk show. The association’s page says it will add information over time, and its timetable section has nothing under it (checked 16 October 2026). Both pages are in Japanese.
This guide covers which day to go, the talk show, the monkfish soup tickets, the rules at the venue and the train from Mito.
Quick Facts
- Festivals: “Oarai Aki Matsuri Shoko Kanshasai & Oarai Anko Matsuri” (in our translation, “Oarai Autumn Festival: the Commerce and Industry Thanksgiving Festival and the Oarai Anko Festival”)
- Dates: Saturday 14 November 2026 (Shoko Kanshasai) and Sunday 15 November 2026 (Anko Festival)
- Hours: 9:30–15:00 on both days
- Girls und Panzer cast talk show: Sunday 15 November, on the lawn square in front of Oarai Marine Tower; free to watch; we did not find the start time on the anime’s site or the tourism association’s page (checked 16 October 2026)
- Monkfish soup: on Sunday 15 November; 1,000 servings at 300 yen a bowl from 11:30, with numbered tickets handed out from 10:00; the tourism association’s page says the times may change
- Venue: the square in front of Oarai Marine Tower (HELTEC Oarai Marine Tower on the tourism association’s English page)
- Train: Oarai Station on the Kashima Rinkai Railway’s Oarai Kashima Line, about 15 minutes from Mito Station; IC cards such as Suica cannot be used on this line
- Address: 10 Minato Chuo, Oarai-machi
Sources: the Oarai Tourism Association’s festival page, the Girls und Panzer site’s talk show page, JR East’s Hitachinokuni Kiko page for festival visitors and Oarai Marine Tower’s access page, all in Japanese; the tower’s English name and address are from the tourism association’s English page about the tower. Checked 16 October 2026.
Which Day to Go
Saturday 14 November is the Shoko Kanshasai. The tourism association’s page lists working vehicles such as excavators on show in the pedestrian area of the venue, and on stage a mock ridge-raising ceremony of the kind held when a new house is built, a performance by the Oarai High School marching band, BLUE-HAWKS, and a live show by an impressionist and a comedian.
Sunday 15 November is the Anko Festival, with the Girls und Panzer talk show at the main venue and the monkfish soup. The town’s shopping street becomes a pedestrian area with food trucks, and an exhibition of 30 or more itasha, cars decorated with anime artwork, runs at the same time.
On both days, the page says anyone who shops at five or more stalls gets special goods; you take part at the Information tent at the entrance to the main venue. On the 14th, every stall at the Shoko Kanshasai counts; on the 15th, every stall at the Anko Festival and the restaurants in the pedestrian area count. “Premium anko nabe” tickets, worth 5,000 yen at the town’s shops that take part, are sold for 4,000 yen, limited to 150 booklets a day. The page also lists a demonstration of tsurushigiri, the hanging and cutting of a monkfish, on stage, under its heading for events on both days.
The Girls und Panzer Talk Show
The Girls und Panzer site says the cast talk show is on Sunday 15 November 2026, on the lawn square in front of Oarai Marine Tower, and that it is free to watch. It lists five cast members, in our romanization: Mai Fuchigami (Miho Nishizumi), Ai Kayano (Saori Takebe), Mami Ozaki (Hana Isuzu), Ikumi Nakagami (Yukari Akiyama) and Yuka Iguchi (Mako Reizei). It says the cast may change without notice.
Neither page gives the start time (checked 16 October 2026). The tourism association’s page says high-backed chairs are not allowed in the stage viewing area, that holding places or camping at the venue from the night before is not allowed and that anything it judges to be place-holding or camping will be removed, and that pets cannot go on the lawn area of the venue.
The tourism association’s page also lists a Girls und Panzer merchandise event, the GaruPan Mini Mini Hobby Show, at Oarai Seaside Station. It does not give the dates (checked 16 October 2026). The page says it will add information over time, so check it again before you go, linked in the sources below.
The Monkfish Soup Tickets
On Sunday 15 November, 1,000 servings of anko-jiru, monkfish soup, go on sale at the venue at 11:30, at 300 yen a bowl. You need a numbered ticket to buy one, handed out from 10:00, and the tourism association’s page says the times may change.
Getting to Oarai From Mito
Oarai Marine Tower’s access page gives the trip as about 80 minutes by limited express on the JR Ueno-Tokyo Line and Joban Line from Tokyo or Ueno to Mito, then about 15 minutes on the Kashima Rinkai Railway’s Oarai Kashima Line from Mito to Oarai Station. It also lists the Mito-go highway bus from Tokyo Station to Mito, about 120 minutes. We did not find the walking time from Oarai Station to the tower on the tower’s or the tourism association’s access pages (checked 16 October 2026). The address in Quick Facts links to Google Maps, where you can check the route.
JR East’s page for festival visitors says IC cards such as Suica cannot be used on the Oarai Kashima Line, so you need a ticket. It expects Mito and Oarai stations to be very crowded on the festival days, and says buying a ticket at a machine may take a long time. It asks visitors to use a one-way e-ticket between Mito and Oarai from its Hitachinokuni Kiko service, bought on a phone so that you do not queue at the machines. The tickets are sold one way at a time, on the day you travel, and you show the ticket on your phone to the staff at the gate. You need to log in to Tabi-CONNECT to show it, and a screenshot is not accepted. We did not find the price of the e-ticket on that page. We also did not find on that page whether the e-ticket can be bought in English or paid for with a card issued outside Japan; the page links to Tabi-CONNECT’s FAQ and contact form, both in Japanese (checked 16 October 2026).
The tourism association’s page says there are traffic restrictions, with parts of the area around the venue and the shopping street becoming pedestrian zones: around the venue from 9:00 to 15:30 on both days, and around the shopping street from 9:00 to 16:00 on 15 November only. It expects traffic jams.
- Where to stay
- Places to stay in Oarai (Booking.com)
- What this is
- The festival is in Oarai. If you want to stay in the town, this opens a hotel search for Oarai, so you can set your own dates. We have not stayed at any of these. We are not recommending a hotel — we are pointing you at the list.
Before You Go
The dates, hours, talk show, soup tickets, rules and train details above are on the Oarai Tourism Association’s festival page, the Girls und Panzer site and JR East’s Hitachinokuni Kiko page, all in Japanese. Checked 16 October 2026. The association’s page says it will add information over time, and the talk show time was not on it when we checked, so check it again before you go.
Sources: the Oarai Tourism Association’s festival page, the Girls und Panzer site’s talk show page, JR East’s Hitachinokuni Kiko page for festival visitors and Oarai Marine Tower’s access page, all in Japanese; and the tourism association’s English page about the tower. Checked 16 October 2026.
Affiliate disclosure: some links on this site earn a commission at no extra cost to you.