Festivals, exhibitions, pop-ups, and seasonal happenings across all nine regions.
By month: October 2026, November 2026, December 2026, January 2027
A ramen competition at Okubo Park in Shinjuku, where 64 shops from across Japan take turns over eight phases and visitor votes pick the winner.
10 Oct – 15 Nov 2026TokyoA castle festival features an armored warrior procession, parades, and traditional performances including taiko drumming and Shinto kagura dance.
16 Nov 2026Iwakuni · YamaguchiAn autumn event synchronizes fireworks and drone choreography with music across an open plaza, creating a panoramic display of light and color.
21 Nov 2026Suita · OsakaThe Satomi Kakashi Festival shows handmade scarecrows by local and visiting artists, with contests honoring agricultural heritage and creative craftsmanship.
24 Oct – 21 Nov 2026Hitachiota · IbarakiAn annual summit in Hanyu City gathering hundreds of costumed regional mascots from Japan and abroad, celebrating the country's distinctive mascot culture.
21–22 Nov 2026Hanyu · SaitamaAn exhibition on Ainu clothing and its exchange with Honshu fashion, tracing garments from historical samurai-class robes to contemporary ruwunpe designs.
19 Sep – 23 Nov 2026Shiraoi · HokkaidoA three-day fair for pens, ink and paper in Tokyo each November, where makers, shops and individual craftsmen sell fountain pens, many of them one-offs.
21–23 Nov 2026TokyoAn event built from the Japanese picture-book series about a bread-stealing thief, with sets to be photographed in, at Sapporo Factory in Hokkaido.
2 Oct – 23 Nov 2026Sapporo · HokkaidoThe yearly flower show of the Ryuseiha school of ikebana in Shibuya, held in three periods, with almost every work changed between them.
19–24 Nov 2026TokyoOnce a year the gods of Japan are said to abandon their shrines for Izumo, where a season of quiet rites welcomes, hosts, and finally sends them home again.
18–25 Nov 2026Izumo · ShimaneThis festival honors Tenjin, a tenth-century poet and administrator deified for his integrity, through a ritual dating back over a thousand years.
28 Nov 2026Hofu · YamaguchiUzumasa Kyoto Village (Toei Kyoto Studio Park) fills with yokai every autumn: two evening parades, dance shows, daily yokai greetings and limited yokai food.
12 Sep – 29 Nov 2026KyotoShunga and ukiyo-e by Utagawa Kunisada and Utagawa Kuniyoshi at the Shinjuku Kabukicho Noh Stage, the fourth Kabukicho shunga show. Ages 18 and over.
3 Oct – 29 Nov 2026TokyoThe autumn opening of Kunenan, a Meiji-era villa garden in Kanzaki, Saga, when its maples turn red over moss and a thatched house, with daily concerts and tea.
14–29 Nov 2026Kanzaki · SagaTokyo's highest beer garden sits at 500 meters elevation, serving all-you-can-drink craft beers and buffet fare with city views by day and stargazing at night.
30 May – 29 Nov 2026Hachioji · TokyoThree artists set work through Hibiya Park in Tokyo for two weeks in November, in a programme run by the city alongside its flower and light displays.
13–29 Nov 2026TokyoAround 300 works by Mizuki Shigeru, from childhood drawings to the yokai he spent a lifetime recording, at the Kobe Fashion Museum, September to November.
12 Sep – 29 Nov 2026Kobe · HyogoPOP YOKAI at the Yokai Art Museum: contemporary yokai sculpture in two exhibition phases, with about 100 modern takes on legendary supernatural creatures.
26 Dec 2025 – 30 Nov 2026Kagawa
