An organized event - Temple Festival, Tokyo

The sound of chanting in the street not far from our hotel in central Tokyo drew us to a procession of people carrying a religious shrine towards a Buddhist Temple. We discovered afterwards that such festivals, called Matsuri, are held annually in springtime throughout Japan.
Planning
In this situation, my planning was unavoidably off the cuff. The people seemed to be in teams, each team dressed in matching coloured jackets. These teams were taking turns to carry the shrine and to lead the chanting. In front of the procession was a group of musicians drumming on gongs carried on a decorated cart.
The procession was moving slowly and I therefore had time to photograph the head of the procession, and then to move back and forth looking for viewpoints to photograph the people carrying the shrine, the people watching and other individuals who looked photogenic. My camera had my 28mm prime lens fitted so this meant plenty of moving around to get close enough to my subjects to fill the frame.  
Photography
I have selected a group of five photos to produce an impression of the procession, starting with the front of the procession.

Leaders and musicians at the front of the procession 

Nikon 28mm: Iso 200 f8 for 1/160th seconds

The Shrine

Nikon 28mm:  Iso 200 f8 for 1/200th seconds

Sharing the burden

Nikon 28mm: Iso 200 f8 for 1/320th seconds

Another team, another uniform 

Nikon 28mm: Iso 200 f8 1/1250th seconds

Youngsters join in

Nikon 28mm: Iso 200 f8 for 1/320th seconds

There is some surrounding context in these photographs, but I did not include photographs of the temple structure itself as I wanted to direct attention to the peoples enjoyment of the festival. For me, this was a  side of Japanese character that was lighter and more vibrant.

Conclusions

In this particular case, I am not sure that much would have changed if I had had more planning time. It would have been useful to have seen such a ceremony before, or to have read about this. I would then have been able to think beforehand about the narrative possibilities and have an initial list of subjects prepared. 

I may have been tempted to take my 18-200 mm zoom lens, but I was happy with the 28mm prime lens. It is just means moving closer when you need a close up of someone.