PORT ARTHUR, Texas — Less than three months after its debut at Port Arthur's Central Mall, a popular Asian food festival is headed back for more this coming weekend.
The Otaku Food Festival is teaming up with the mall for a "Cherry Blossom Festival" this time and promises food and drink vendors along with anime vendors, Sumo wrestling and more.
The festival is happening on May 11 & 12, 2024 at the mall from noon - 8 p.m. Saturday and noon - 6 p.m. Sunday.
Entry to the two-day family friendly event is free but organizers suggest bringing plenty of cash.
We suggest bringing your own chairs as there is not much seating available in the parking lot.
Hundreds of Southeast Texans visited the festival in the mall's parking lot as well as inside the mall when the festival made is Southeast Texas debut during the last weekend of February 2024.
Festival organizers are promising cuisine from across Asia, including Filipino, Japanese and Thai street food, noodles, baos, Vietnamese grilled chicken and eggrolls, Taiwanese boba tea and even some Latin food.
Otaku Food Festival takes over Port Arthur's Central Mall
The festival's name is inspired by the Japanese word for "nerd."
Asian and Anime culture (Japanese animation) has seen a boom of popularity in the west in recent years, and the Otaku Food Festival is capitalizing on that with it's own unique combination of mouth-watering Asian street food and anime inspired booths and activities.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.