On Oct 25-27, Joban Kyodo Gas, a local supplier of city gas and LPG in Iwaki city in Fukushima prefecture, held "The Thanksgiving Festival", a promotional event for the local economy, with 7,509 participants. Comedian Sunshine Ikezaki and professional wrestler Atushi Onita joined the festival. According to Joban Kyodo Gas, Sunshine Ikezaki, who is popular throughout Japan owing to his aggressive performance, was "loved by kids at the event and he made visitors excited by approaching them together with another comedian Kotake Seigikan. We really felt the influence of the celebrities."

Nevertheless, Joban Kyodo Gas had set a bigger target with 10,000 participants. Thus, the company would put effort in the arrangement of the dates and each event in the festival from next year. In the city, demand for gas equipment as well as new housing was almost covered as more than 10 years had passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Under this situation, the company stated, "Of course, we would like to keep giving the first priority to showing appreciation to our customers and local residents but at the same time, we also intend to attract more people to the sales booths for gas equipment as well."

　Photo taken by Joban Kyodo Gas