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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

Kishu Odori "Bundara-bushi"

Kishu Odori Bundara-bushi, one of Wakayama's largest summer events, returns on 1 August, with thousands of dancers around Wakayama Castle.

31 Jul – 1 Aug 2027Wakayama · Kansai

Festival

The Hachinohe Sansha Taisai

Hachinohe Sansha Taisai combines traditional shrine processions with elaborately decorated floats and is recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

31 Jul – 4 Aug 2027Aomori · Tohoku

Festival

Furusato Miya Matsuri

This Utsunomiya summer festival brings residents together for parades, traditional performances, and displays of local culture.

All Events Places

Festival

Kishu Odori "Bundara-bushi"

Kishu Odori Bundara-bushi, one of Wakayama's largest summer events, returns on 1 August, with thousands of dancers around Wakayama Castle.

31 Jul – 1 Aug 2027Wakayama · Kansai

Festival

The Hachinohe Sansha Taisai

Hachinohe Sansha Taisai combines traditional shrine processions with elaborately decorated floats and is recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

31 Jul – 4 Aug 2027Aomori · Tohoku

Festival

Furusato Miya Matsuri

This Utsunomiya summer festival brings residents together for parades, traditional performances, and displays of local culture.

1–2 Aug 2027

Tochigi · Kanto

Festival

Morioka Sansa Odori Festival

Major summer dance festival originating from legend about a demon's defeat, featuring traditional Sansa Odori dance and powerful taiko performances.

1–4 Aug 2027Iwate · Tohoku

Festival

Tsuyama Gongo Festival

The Tsuyama Gongo Festival is a lively summer event in Tsuyama City featuring kappa-themed dances along Yakko-dori Street and one of Okayama's largest fireworks displays.

1–2 Aug 2027Okayama · Chugoku

Festival

Takaoka Tanabata Festival

A festival celebrating the legend of star-crossed lovers transforms the city with colorful bamboo displays, streamers, and a traditional parade.

1–8 Aug 2027Toyama · Chubu

Festival

Hirosaki Neputa Festival

The Hirosaki Neputa Festival features giant illuminated floats up to 10 meters tall, paraded nightly through the city with taiko drums and traditional chanting.

1–7 Aug 2027Aomori · Tohoku

Festival

Issaki Hoto Festival

The Issaki Hōtō Festival features six massive illuminated lantern towers, each 10 meters tall, carried through the streets by teams in traditional festival attire.

1 Aug 2027Ishikawa · Chubu

Festival

Nagano Binzuru

The Nagano Binzuru Dance Festival draws over 10,000 participants in coordinated yukata processions through closed-off city streets in a fully participatory summer celebration.

2 Aug 2027Nagano · Chubu

Festival

The Aomori Nebuta Festival

Aomori's most iconic summer festival features glowing nebuta floats and energetic haneto dancers who leap through illuminated parades and water processions.

2–7 Aug 2027Aomori · Tohoku

Festival

Akita Kanto

A summer harvest festival features towering bamboo poles adorned with paper lanterns, paraded through streets with traditional music and daytime balancing performances.

3–6 Aug 2027Akita · Tohoku

Festival

Goshogawara Tachineputa Festival

The Goshogawara Tachineputa Festival is an Aomori summer festival famous for its illuminated floats, some up to 23 metres tall, paraded nightly to taiko drums and flutes.

4–8 Aug 2027Aomori · Tohoku

Festival

Yaegaki Shrine Gion Festival

Every 4–5 August, ten neighbourhoods of Yokaichiba send mikoshi through the streets while crowds throw water over them. A Chiba festival nearly 500 years old.

4–5 Aug 2027Chiba · Kanto

Festival

Yamagata Hanagasa Festival

The Yamagata Hanagasa Festival is a major August event where over 10,000 dancers parade nightly with flower-decorated hanagasa hats to taiko drums and folk song.

5–7 Aug 2027Yamagata · Tohoku

Festival

Sendai Tanabata Festival

Held 6–8 August, the Sendai Tanabata Festival fills the city with vast colourful paper streamers and kusudama ornaments, rooted in the Tanabata legend.

6–8 Aug 2027Miyagi · Tohoku

Festival

Kiryu Yagibushi Festival

The Kiryu Yagibushi Festival is a lively summer event held each August in Kiryu City, centred on Yagibushi folk song and dance, with street parades, live music, and cultural programmes.

7–9 Aug 2027Gunma · Kanto

Festival

Fussa Tanabata Festival

One of western Tokyo's biggest summer festivals, where Japan's Tanabata star festival meets American base-town culture in a street of dazzling decorations.

7–9 Aug 2027Tokyo · Kanto

Festival

Suhoteisai Festival

A rare Yamaguchi ritual festival said to date back over 1,800 years, with seven nights of dances around the Oni-ishi stone, towering banners, and lantern-topped poles.

7–13 Aug 2027Yamaguchi · Chugoku