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The month's best festivals, exhibitions, and pop-ups in Japan, in one email. Free, monthly.

Free when you joinThe First-Timer's Japan Guide, our 16-page PDF, in your welcome email.

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The First-Timer's Japan Guide16-page PDF, in your welcome email.

The First-Timer's Japan Guide

Guides, places, and what's on across Japan, written at street level.

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All Events Places

Festival

Katakai Matsuri

The autumn festival of Asahara Shrine at Ojiya in Niigata, where the fireworks are offerings and include the four-shaku shell, said to be the world's largest.

11–12 Sep 2026Niigata · Chubu

Festival

Hanamaki Festival

This centuries-old festival features over 100 mikoshi shrines and floats, with the Shishi-Odori deer dance and sacred Kagura-Gongenmai performance.

11–13 Sep 2026Iwate · Tohoku

Festival

Kaikai Yokai Festival

Toei Kyoto Studio Park brings Japanese yokai legends to life with parades, interactive dance experiences, workshops, and exhibitions celebrating supernatural folklore.

All Events Places

Festival

Katakai Matsuri

The autumn festival of Asahara Shrine at Ojiya in Niigata, where the fireworks are offerings and include the four-shaku shell, said to be the world's largest.

11–12 Sep 2026Niigata · Chubu

Festival

Hanamaki Festival

This centuries-old festival features over 100 mikoshi shrines and floats, with the Shishi-Odori deer dance and sacred Kagura-Gongenmai performance.

11–13 Sep 2026Iwate · Tohoku

Festival

Kaikai Yokai Festival

Toei Kyoto Studio Park brings Japanese yokai legends to life with parades, interactive dance experiences, workshops, and exhibitions celebrating supernatural folklore.

12 Sep – 29 Nov 2026

Kyoto · Kansai

Festival

Morioka Fall Festival

One of Iwate's most enduring celebrations, this autumn festival originated as prayers for harvest, now featuring ornate floats and traditional parades.

14–16 Sep 2026Iwate · Tohoku

Festival

Kuji Autumn Festival

This over 650-year-old festival in a northern mountain town expresses gratitude for the harvest while praying for protection from disaster and the arrival of good fortune.

17–20 Sep 2026Iwate · Tohoku

Festival

Kishiwada Danjiri Festival

One of Japan's most dynamic float festivals with a 300-year history, known for its signature yarimawashi maneuver where massive floats are swung around corners.

18–20 Sep 2026Osaka · Kansai

Festival

Ishioka Festival

Around thirty lion carts and twelve tiered floats fill central Ishioka for three days each September, at one of the three great festivals of the Kanto region.

19–21 Sep 2026Ibaraki · Kanto

Festival

Kanazawa Jazz Street

One of Japan's largest jazz events transforms Kanazawa's historic streets, shrines, and public spaces into stages for world-class musicians each September.

19–21 Sep 2026Ishikawa · Chubu

Festival

Okuma Kabuto Festival

Nanao's festival honors samurai heritage through a dramatic parade of locals dressed in full armor and helmets, accompanied by traditional music and dance performances.

20 Sep 2026Ishikawa · Chubu

Festival

Johana Mugiya Festival

The Johana Mugiya Festival celebrates Mugiya-bushi, a historic folk song and dance rooted in Gokayama's rural heritage, with costumed dancers and traditional instruments.

20 Sep 2026Toyama · Chubu

Festival

Ohara Hadaka Festival

The 'Naked Festival' features mikoshi carried into the sea, a boisterous parade through town, and shrines tossed high against fireworks and songs of joy.

23–24 Sep 2026Chiba · Kanto

Festival

Gokayama Mugiya Festival

The Gokayama Mugiya Festival features Mugiya-bushi, a folk song and dance tradition rooted in the Heike clan, designated as Japan's Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

23 Sep 2026Toyama · Chubu

Festival

Gokayama Kokiriko Festival

Streets fill with folk songs, dances, and lion performances, culminating in a communal circle dance accompanied by the rhythmic playing of a bamboo whisk instrument.

25–26 Sep 2026Toyama · Chubu

Festival

Benkei Matsuri

Tanabe in Wakayama holds a two-day festival for Benkei, the warrior monk it claims as its own, with a play at the shrine and 600 dancers in wooden clogs.

2–3 Oct 2026Wakayama · Kansai

Festival

Gobo Festival

Each October in Gobo, Wakayama, the region's largest autumn festival fills the streets with rival parish groups, dance, and towering, massive drum floats.

4–5 Oct 2026Wakayama · Kansai

Festival

Matsuyama Dogo Autumn Festival

Ancient shrine festival featuring portable shrines carried through Matsuyama's districts in ritual performances believed to enhance spiritual power.

5–7 Oct 2026Ehime · Shikoku

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 · Kyushu

Festival

Sakura Autumn Festival

Each October the old castle town of Sakura fills with towering doll floats, portable shrines and Edo-descended music for three days of procession.

9–11 Oct 2026Chiba · Kanto