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2026/09/15

Festival · Nagasaki · Kyushu

Nagasaki Kunchi / Okunchi

This 380-year-old shrine festival blends Japanese folk dances with dragon processions and Dutch-influenced performances held across four venues in Nagasaki.

Nagasaki · 7–9 Oct 2026

Shrine · Kagoshima · Kyushu

Kirishima Shrine

A shrine below the peak of Takachiho in Kagoshima, its vermilion halls of 1715 made a National Treasure in 2022.

Kirishima

Visual Art · Fukuoka · Kyushu

Ashiya Sand Craft Exhibition

The 10th sand sculpture exhibition displays 28 works with a prehistoric theme, including pieces reaching six meters in height.

Ashiya · 23 Oct – 8 Nov 2026

Onsen & Wellness · Kagoshima · Kyushu

Ibusuki Sunamushi Onsen Saraku (Sand Bath)

A sand bath on the shore at Ibusuki, where hot spring water heats the beach and bathers are buried in black volcanic sand.

Ibusuki

Weather

Nagasaki27°
Fukuoka26°
Kagoshima28°
Saga27°
Oita26°

06:0318:27Nagasaki

Yen

1 US Dollar¥154.6
1 Euro¥178.6
1 Singapore Dollar¥121.7
1 Australian Dollar¥110.1

Reference rates · 2026/09/14

Quick poll

Festival

Nagasaki Kunchi / Okunchi

This 380-year-old shrine festival blends Japanese folk dances with dragon processions and Dutch-influenced performances held across four venues in Nagasaki.

7–9 Oct 2026Nagasaki

Visual Art

Ashiya Sand Craft Exhibition

The 10th sand sculpture exhibition displays 28 works with a prehistoric theme, including pieces reaching six meters in height.

23 Oct – 8 Nov 2026Ashiya · Fukuoka

Festival

Saga International Balloon Fiesta

Asia's largest hot-air balloon event, where around 100 balloons rise over the Kase River each autumn in a five-day competition and festival.

30 Oct – 3 Nov 2026Saga

Music

Monster Hunter Orchestra Concert ~Hunting Music Festival 2026~

Video game music from the Monster Hunter series receives live orchestral treatment by the Kyushu Symphony Orchestra in this touring concert event.

31 Oct 2026Fukuoka

Festival

Miyazaki Jingu Grand Festival

Miyazaki's largest celebration honors Emperor Jimmu through a grand autumn procession featuring portable shrines and floats reenacting the legendary emperor's historic journey.

31 Oct – 1 Nov 2026Miyazaki

Festival

Ohara Festival

Mass dancing in vibrant costumes and powerful taiko drumming celebrate Kagoshima's regional identity in this southern Kyushu autumn festival.

2–3 Nov 2026Kagoshima

Sport & Competition

Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon

Established in 1952 and regarded as one of Japan's three most prestigious classic marathons, this Oita race draws dedicated runners annually.

1 Feb 2027Oita

Festival

Nagasaki Lantern Festival

The festival illuminates Nagasaki's streets with around 15,000 Chinese lanterns, some reaching 10 metres, celebrating Lunar New Year traditions.

6–23 Feb 2027Nagasaki

Food Fair

Seki Aji and Seki Saba Festival

An annual seafood festival celebrating locally prized Seki horse mackerel and mackerel, offering sashimi, sushi, and stage performances.

14 Mar 2027Oita

Festival

Hifuri Shinji Fire Swinging Ritual

Each spring at Aso Shrine, priests perform the Hifuri Shinji fire-swinging ritual, a mesmerizing ceremony rooted in ancient agricultural tradition.

23 Mar 2027Aso · Kumamoto

Festival

Hakata Dontaku

Japan's largest festival, dating back 840 years, celebrates with parades of the Three Lucky Gods, children's processions, and modern Flower Cars.

2–4 May 2027Fukuoka

Festival

Fukiage-hama Sand Festival

The Fukiage-hama Sand Festival transforms a Kagoshima beach into an art gallery of large-scale sculptures created by artists and volunteers, with cultural performances.

3–5 May 2027Minamisatsuma · Kagoshima

Park & Garden

Sengan-en

The garden and villa of the Shimazu lords at Kagoshima, laid out in 1658 with Sakurajima and the bay borrowed as its scenery.

Kagoshima

Museum

Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture

Opened in 2005 on the site of an Edo-period magistrate's office, this museum explores Nagasaki's distinctive history as Japan's historical gateway to overseas exchange.

Nagasaki

Onsen & Wellness

Beppu Hells

Seven vividly coloured hot springs in Beppu – from a cobalt-blue pool to a blood-red pond — too hot to bathe in, but spectacular to see.

Beppu · Oita

Area & Points of Interest

Arita Porcelain Park

A park at Arita in Saga built around a copy of the Zwinger palace of Dresden, marking the porcelain that went from here to Europe.

Arita · Saga

Historic Site

Glover Garden

A hillside park in Nagasaki holding the Western houses of the foreign settlement, among them the oldest wooden Western building in Japan.

Nagasaki

Historic Site

Dejima

The fan-shaped island in Nagasaki that was Japan's only opening to the West for more than two centuries, now rebuilt street by street.

Nagasaki

Area & Points of Interest

Gunkanjima

An abandoned coal mining island off Nagasaki, once the most crowded place in Japan, left empty since the mine closed in 1974.

Nagasaki

National Park

Takachiho Gorge

A gorge in Miyazaki where cliffs of columnar rock rise from the Gokase River, with a waterfall that can be reached by hired boat.

Takachiho · Miyazaki

Area & Points of Interest

Nagasaki Confucius Shrine

The only Confucius temple in Japan built in full Chinese style, put up in 1893 by the Qing government and the Chinese community of Nagasaki.

Nagasaki

Shrine

Suwa Shrine

The tutelary shrine of Nagasaki, re-established in 1625 after the city had been church land, and home of the Kunchi festival.

Nagasaki

Temple

Jofukuji

A temple at Emukae in Sasebo where the maples of the garden are shown upside down, reflected in a panel set into the floor of the hall.

Sasebo · Nagasaki

Historic Site

Former Nokubi Church

A brick church of 1908 on an island in Nagasaki that now has no inhabitants, built by seventeen households of former hidden Christians.

Ojika · Nagasaki

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