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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

Kakunodate Festival

A traditional autumn festival with 400 years of history, held in September in Kakunodate, featuring large wooden floats decorated with samurai warrior dolls.

7–9 Sep 2026Akita · Tohoku

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

Kakunodate Festival

A traditional autumn festival with 400 years of history, held in September in Kakunodate, featuring large wooden floats decorated with samurai warrior dolls.

7–9 Sep 2026Akita · Tohoku

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

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.

14 Sep 2026Toyama · Chubu

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

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

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

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.

19–21 Sep 2026Iwate · Tohoku

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

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

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

Kanuma Autumn Festival

An autumn festival held in October with origins tracing to a 1608 rainmaking ritual, featuring 27 ornately carved musical floats from the Edo period.

10–11 Oct 2026Tochigi · Kanto

Festival

Matsushiro Sanada Jumangoku Festival

An autumn parade brings the Warring States period to life with over 250 participants in samurai and historical costumes, honoring the Sanada clan.

11–12 Oct 2026Nagano · Chubu

Festival

Dogeza Festival

An October festival features a grand procession with a portable shrine led by samurai-clad participants, with local residents bowing in reverence along the streets.

15 Oct 2026Okayama · Chugoku

Festival

Niihama Taiko Festival

Towering drum-bearing floats parade through Niihama in this October celebration, drawing nearly 200,000 spectators each year.

16–18 Oct 2026Ehime · Shikoku

Shrine

Sumiyoshi Taisha

Sumiyoshi Taisha has served maritime travelers for two millennia, enshrining three sea deities and Empress Jingū, who founded the shrine and is revered as a protective deity.

Osaka

Shrine

Owari Okunitama Shrine

Owari Okunitama Shrine is the regional guardian of Owari Province, enshrining the sacred land spirit revered for protection of agriculture and commerce since the Nara period.

Inazawa · Aichi

Shrine

Tsuma Shrine

Tsuma Shrine is dedicated to Konohanasakuya-hime, whose name is believed to reflect her role as the spouse of Ninigi no Mikoto in Japanese mythology.

Saito · Miyazaki

Shrine

Suwa Shrine

Suwa Shrine sits on a hillside overlooking Toyama Bay, enshrining three deities revered by maritime workers for protection and prosperity in fishing.

Uozu · Toyama

Shrine

Iminomiya Shrine

Western Japan's oldest shrine with an 1,800-year legacy, built where Emperor Chūai's palace stood and his spirit was enshrined by Empress Jingū.

Shimonoseki · Yamaguchi

Shrine

Kanayama Shrine

Shrine dedicated to metalworking deities, famous for the annual Kanamara Matsuri celebrating fertility and well-being, with origins in the Edo period.

Kawasaki · Kanagawa

Shrine

Miyagi Gokoku Shrine

Shrine on the Sendai Castle site honoring over 56,000 spirits of those who died in national service, with a main hall from Ise Grand Shrine.

Sendai · Miyagi

Shrine

Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen Shrine

Shinto shrine at the northern base of Mount Fuji dating to the 2nd century, serving as the traditional departure point for Mount Fuji pilgrimages.

Fujiyoshida · Yamanashi

Shrine

Hakusan Shrine Sayado

Built in 1760 to protect an ancient shrine dating to 1502, this structure in Gokayama shelters Toyama's oldest surviving wooden building, now designated an Important Cultural Property.

Nanto · Toyama

Shrine

Kanda Shrine

With origins dating 1,270 years ago, this Tokyo shrine in Akihabara held significance for warriors and citizens during the Edo period and was visited by shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Tokyo

Shrine

Fujisan Hongū Sengen Taisha

Dedicated to Mount Fuji's volcano goddess, this shrine has led 1,300 Sengen shrines nationwide for 1,100 years and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2013.

Fujinomiya · Shizuoka

Shrine

Osaka Tenmangū

Founded as a guardian shrine in 650 AD and rededicated in 949, Osaka Tenmangū honors the deified scholar Sugawara no Michizane, revered as a deity of academics and learning.

Osaka

Shrine

Aso Shrine

A venerable shrine dating over 2,000 years, Aso Shrine honors the grandson of Emperor Jimmu and fuses Shinto practice with worship of Mount Aso's sacred volcanic crater.

Aso · Kumamoto

Shrine

Shimogamo Shrine

Dating to the 6th century, this Kyoto shrine dedicated to Tamayori-hime and her father was worshipped as protection against misfortune and a guardian of the capital.

Kyoto

Shrine

Hie Shrine

Hie Shrine was established in 1335 near Toyama Castle and hosts the Sanno Festival in June, which attracts 200,000 visitors to the approach streets lined with food stalls.

Toyama

Shrine

Kamigamo Shrine

One of Japan's oldest Shinto shrines, dedicated to the thunder deity and honored since 794 when Kyoto became the imperial capital.

Kyoto

Shrine

Heisenji Hakusan Jinja

Famed for its mossy gardens, Heisenji Hakusan Shrine is designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty and Historic Site, with origins as a Buddhist temple built in 717.

Katsuyama · Fukui

Shrine

Mamada Hachiman Shrine

This 1,300-year-old shrine hosts a Snake Festival on May 5 with seven giant snakes exceeding 15 meters in length, a designated National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

Oyama · Tochigi