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

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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

Kurakake Castle Festival

A castle festival features an armored warrior procession, parades, and traditional performances including taiko drumming and Shinto kagura dance.

16 Nov 2026Yamaguchi · Chugoku

Festival

Kamiari Festival

Once a year the gods of Japan are said to abandon their shrines for Izumo, where a season of quiet rites welcomes, hosts, and finally sends them home again.

18–25 Nov 2026Shimane · Chugoku

Festival

Wajima Crab Festival

Wajima Marine Town celebrates fresh seafood and local specialties with market stalls, performances, and free crab soup each November.

All Events Places

Festival

Kurakake Castle Festival

A castle festival features an armored warrior procession, parades, and traditional performances including taiko drumming and Shinto kagura dance.

16 Nov 2026Yamaguchi · Chugoku

Festival

Kamiari Festival

Once a year the gods of Japan are said to abandon their shrines for Izumo, where a season of quiet rites welcomes, hosts, and finally sends them home again.

18–25 Nov 2026Shimane · Chugoku

Festival

Wajima Crab Festival

Wajima Marine Town celebrates fresh seafood and local specialties with market stalls, performances, and free crab soup each November.

23 Nov 2026

Ishikawa · Chubu

Festival

Hofu Tenmangu Gojinko-sai Festival (Naked Monk Festival)

This festival honors Tenjin, a tenth-century poet and administrator deified for his integrity, through a ritual dating back over a thousand years.

28 Nov 2026Yamaguchi · Chugoku

Festival

Chichibu Night Festival

An annual festival in Saitama featuring six ornate floats illuminated by thousands of lanterns, along with fireworks and traditional performances.

2–3 Dec 2026Saitama · Kanto

Festival

Zao Juhyo Festival

The Zao Juhyo Festival showcases Snow Monsters, ethereal ice and snow formations that coat trees in the Zao Mountains, illuminated after dark to create a surreal winter landscape.

27 Dec 2026 – 23 Feb 2027Yamagata · Tohoku

Festival

Motsu-ji Temple Hatsukayasai Festival

The final day of this week-long Buddhist observance at a UNESCO World Heritage temple features torchlit processions and prayers for good fortune.

14–20 Jan 2027Iwate · Tohoku

Festival

Dadado-no-onihashiri

Masked demons swing blazing torches through a temple hall in an ancient winter ritual performed twice daily, seeking protection from misfortune and ancestral blessings.

14 Jan 2027Nara · Kansai

Festival

Dontosai Festival

An annual winter ritual in Sendai features the ceremonial burning of New Year decorations followed by a sacred pilgrimage procession in traditional attire.

14 Jan 2027Miyagi · Tohoku

Festival

Nozawa Onsen Dōsojin Festival

Dōsojin, a folk deity protecting travelers and villages, is honored through this traditional festival featuring ceremonial fire and ritual.

15 Jan 2027Nagano · Chubu

Festival

New Year’s Bonfire (Sagicho-shinji)

The Sagicho-shinji ritual burns New Year's decorations on January 15 at Tsurugaoka Hachimangū shrine in a purifying fire believed to cleanse impurities and bring a bountiful harvest.

15 Jan 2027Kanagawa · Kanto

Festival

Oiso Sagicho Festival

A National Important Folk Cultural Property, this Little New Year fire ritual purifies homes and communities through burning traditional new-year decorations.

17 Jan 2027Kanagawa · Kanto

Festival

Echizen Ono Hina Festival

A Doll's Day celebration features hina doll displays at two venues, including a 20-step arrangement at a historic National Cultural Property and character dolls.

24 Jan – 8 Mar 2027Fukui · Chubu

Festival

Fire Festival at Cape Shionomisaki

At Cape Shionomisaki, a practical piece of land management becomes a spectacular celebration as flaming arrows set the grasslands ablaze each winter.

30 Jan 2027Wakayama · Kansai

Festival

Chitose and Lake Shikotsu Ice Festival

An ice festival at Lake Shikotsu showcases sculptures created from sprayed water, complemented by performances, fireworks, and nearby hot springs.

31 Jan – 23 Feb 2027Hokkaido · Hokkaido

Festival

Setsubun Armor Festival

In February, this festival features a grand procession of 200 costumed samurai in traditional armor proceeding to Bannaji Temple for a traditional purification ceremony.

31 Jan 2027Tochigi · Kanto

Festival

Katsuura Big Hina Matsuri

Every spring the town of Katsuura in Chiba sets out 10,000 hina dolls down shrine staircases, under temple gates, and through the shops and streets between.

1 Feb – 3 Mar 2027Chiba · Kanto

Festival

Amamehagi

Ancient Noto folk ritual where children masquerading as demons parade through streets to symbolically drive away laziness and encourage diligent work.

3 Feb 2027Ishikawa · Chubu

Shrine

Bitchukoku Soja Shrine

Bitchukoku Soja Shrine consolidated deities of 324 provincial shrines into a single site dedicated to the deity of nation-building and good fortune.

Soja · Okayama

Shrine

Uesugi Shrine

Uesugi Shrine in Yonezawa honors the formidable warlord Uesugi Kenshin and was rebuilt in 1923 following a destructive fire.

Yonezawa · Yamagata

Shrine

Sendai Toshogu Shrine

Sendai Toshogu Shrine, established in 1654 to honor Tokugawa Ieyasu, stands out among Japan's Toshogu shrines for its scale and beauty.

Sendai · Miyagi

Shrine

Kitano Tenmangū

The head shrine of approximately 12,000 Tenmangū and Tenjin shrines throughout Japan, Kitano Tenmangū is dedicated to the deity of learning and culture.

Kyoto

Shrine

Juzo Shrine

Ishikawa shrine dedicated to Amenofuyukinu no Mikoto and his son Ōkuninushi, the Shinto god of nation-building and matchmaking, with subsidiary shrines on the grounds.

Wajima · Ishikawa

Shrine

Onominato Shrine

Shinto shrine dedicated to Hachiman Okami, Amaterasu Omikami the sun goddess, and Sarutahiko Okami the god of guidance, with smaller shrines on the precinct grounds.

Kanazawa · Ishikawa

Shrine

Kibitsu Jinja

Major Okayama shrine dedicated to Kibitsuhiko-no-Mikoto, a legendary prince credited with defeating an ogre and bringing peace to the region, foundations of the Momotaro folktale.

Okayama

Shrine

Utasu Jinja Shrine

Kanazawa shrine founded over 1250 years ago and dedicated to Hachiman, serving as a place of prayer for local lords and counted among the city's five great shrines.

Kanazawa · Ishikawa

Shrine

Tsushima Shrine

Head shrine of a nationwide network of about 3,000 Tsushima temples, worshipping the deities Gozutennō and Susanoo with legendary origins in the third century BCE.

Tsushima · Aichi

Shrine

Ise Grand Shrine

Vast shrine complex of 125 shrines dedicated to Amaterasu-Omikami and Toyo'uke-no-Omikami, conducting over 1,500 annual rituals for imperial prosperity and peace.

Ise · Mie

Shrine

Yuga Shrine

Sacred mountain shrine in Okayama with more than two thousand years of history, blending Shinto and Buddhist practices as a centre of pilgrimage.

Kurashiki · Okayama

Shrine

Kunōzan Tōshō-gū

Shinto shrine housing the original grave of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun, and considered the oldest Tōshō-gū shrine in Japan.

Shizuoka

Shrine

Fushimi Inari-taisha

This Kyoto shrine devoted to Inari features thousands of torii gates donated by devotees seeking good fortune and prosperity in business and agriculture.

Kyoto

Shrine

Mikuni Shrine

This shrine venerates the god of agriculture and prosperity, featuring traditional architecture, serene gardens, and a distinctive merchant-donated gate.

Sakai · Fukui

Shrine

Kanbashira-gū

This shrine enshrines Amaterasu Omikami and Toyoukebime, along with five other Shinto deities including Ninigi-no-Mikoto and Ame-no-Tajikarao.

Miyakonojo · Miyazaki

Shrine

Futahashira Shrine

This Sendai shrine has served as a center of devotion for over a thousand years, enshrining the divine family of Izanagi, Izanami, and their child Ebisu.

Sendai · Miyagi

Shrine

Osaki Hachimangu Shrine

Built between 1604 and 1607 under Date Masamune, this shrine showcases Momoyama-era architecture with an intricate main hall designated as a National Treasure.

Sendai · Miyagi

Shrine

Omi Jingu

Established in 1940, Ōmi Jingu enshrines Emperor Tenji and stands adjacent to the traditional site of the Ōmi Ōtsu Palace, which he founded in 667.

Otsu · Shiga