Flaunting a crisp white kimono embroidered with flowers and a ferocious-looking lion-dog, Hisashi Nagata beats a chindon taiko drum set strapped to his chest as his similarly kimono-clad wife, Mika, chats with curious onlookers while handing them leaflets for a new izakaya (Japanese pub) in Kanamachi, a working-class neighborhood in Tokyo's eastern Katsushika Ward.
A sense of festivity is injected into the sleepy shopping street as the clarinetist accompanying them plays a rendition of "When The Saints Go Marching In."
"I haven't seen a chindonya in ages," exclaims a retiree in his 70s as he eyes photos of the deep-fried skewers printed on the flier for the Kushikatsu Tanaka restaurant the three-piece troupe is advertising that day.