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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

Nagano Gion Festival

The Nagano Gion Festival celebrates Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the deity of storms and protection, through mikoshi processions at Yasaka Shrine near historic Zenkoji temple.

6 Jun 2027Nagano · Chubu

Festival

Tokyo Pride 2025

Major LGBTQ+ celebration and parade held in June at Yoyogi Park, attracting record numbers of supporters from domestic and international companies.

6–22 Jun 2027Tokyo · Kanto

Festival

Sanno Matsuri

Sanno Matsuri, held annually in June at Hie Shrine, ranks among Japan's three great festivals and was historically viewed by Tokugawa shoguns, earning the title Festival of the Realm.

All Events Places

Festival

Nagano Gion Festival

The Nagano Gion Festival celebrates Susanoo-no-Mikoto, the deity of storms and protection, through mikoshi processions at Yasaka Shrine near historic Zenkoji temple.

6 Jun 2027Nagano · Chubu

Festival

Tokyo Pride 2025

Major LGBTQ+ celebration and parade held in June at Yoyogi Park, attracting record numbers of supporters from domestic and international companies.

6–22 Jun 2027Tokyo · Kanto

Festival

Sanno Matsuri

Sanno Matsuri, held annually in June at Hie Shrine, ranks among Japan's three great festivals and was historically viewed by Tokugawa shoguns, earning the title Festival of the Realm.

7–17 Jun 2027

Tokyo · Kanto

Festival

YOSAKOI Soran Festival

YOSAKOI Soran Festival blends Hokkaido's Soran Bushi folk song with dance and hand-held clappers, drawing hundreds of teams and millions of spectators to Sapporo each June.

10–14 Jun 2027Hokkaido · Hokkaido

Festival

Tonami Yotaka Festival

This traditional harvest festival features elaborate red lanterns exceeding 6 metres tall that collide in a dramatic ritual called tsukiawase, accompanied by taiko drums.

12–13 Jun 2027Toyama · Chubu

Festival

Chagu Chagu Umakko Festival

Chagu Chagu Umakko Festival, held in June in Iwate Prefecture, honors working horses through decoration, reflecting the region's heritage as a center for horse breeding and agriculture.

14 Jun 2027Iwate · Tohoku

Festival

Okawachiyama Furin (Wind Bell Festival)

A pottery village celebration in mid-July features handcrafted wind bells and illuminated lanterns that create a summer atmosphere.

15 Jun – 31 Aug 2027Saga · Kyushu

Festival

Kawasaki Sanno Festival

A week-long festival in central Kawasaki where two great mikoshi act out a divine marriage, pregnancy, and birth across the city's streets.

19–21 Jun 2027Kanagawa · Kanto

Festival

CITTA' Festival

A shopping complex's summer event now aligns with the Sanno Shrine Festival, featuring portable shrine processions and sacred rites amid Mediterranean streets and food stalls.

19–21 Jun 2027Kanagawa · Kanto

Festival

Himeji Yukata Festival

A festival spanning over 260 years celebrates its origins in 1742 when commoners were permitted to attend a shrine ceremony in summer kimono.

20–21 Jun 2027Hyogo · Kansai

Festival

Aizen Festival

A 1,400-year-old temple festival honors a Buddhist deity associated with love and good fortune through public celebrations and sacred displays.

30 Jun – 2 Jul 2027Osaka · Kansai

Festival

Gion Festival

A month-long Kyoto festival centered on Yasaka Jinja Shrine features sacred rituals, food stalls, illuminated floats, and culminates in a grand procession and parade.

1–31 Jul 2027Kyoto · Kansai

Festival

Hakata Gion Yamakasa

Teams parade towering floats through Fukuoka in this seven-century-old festival, competing to navigate the course fastest while traditional music and crowds fill the streets.

1–15 Jul 2027Fukuoka · Kyushu

Festival

The 75th Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival

The 74th edition of a summer festival known for elaborate street decorations and featuring the Tanabata Dance Thousand-Person Parade on its opening day.

3–5 Jul 2027Kanagawa · Kanto

Festival

Abare Festival

Illuminated lanterns parade through coastal Ushitsu in a celebration rooted in legend, featuring frenzied rituals to honor spiritual protection from epidemics.

3–4 Jul 2027Ishikawa · Chubu

Festival

Doronko Festival

This agricultural ritual held in rice paddies since 1881 celebrates the completion of planting through symbolic mud-covered performances invoking divine blessing for harvest.

5 Jul 2027Ehime · Shikoku

Festival

Sawara Grand Festival

Every July in Sawara, ten seven-metre floats crowned with giant dolls are spun through the streets of a preserved Edo-period merchant town, grazing the eaves.

10–12 Jul 2027Chiba · Kanto

Festival

Ikukunitama Matsuri

One of Osaka's three great summer festivals features a grand procession from the shrine to Osaka Castle with gold and silver portable shrines.

11–12 Jul 2027Osaka · Kansai