July 2026
2 events
07/24–07/25
Tenjin Matsuri
Osaka Tenmangu Shrine and the Okawa River, Kita-ku, Osaka
A festival of boats, and a festival of fire. Osaka's Tenjin Matsuri is one of Japan's three great festivals, alongside K
07/25–07/25
Tenjin Festival Fireworks
Okawa River, Kita, Osaka
This is how a thousand-year-old festival ends. The Tenjin Matsuri, one of the three greatest festivals in Japan, honors
August 2026
4 events
08/11–08/15
Awa Odori
Ainobahama and other stages throughout central Tokushima City, Tokushima
"Fools who dance, fools who watch — if you're going to be a fool, you might as well dance."
This chant, sung to the rhy
08/15–08/16
Sasayama Dekansho Festival
Sannomaru Plaza, Sasayama Castle Ruins, Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo
"Dekansho, Dekansho, and half the year is spent." So begins the song that has defined summer in this castle town for fou
08/16–08/16
Gozan no Okuribi
Five mountains around the Higashiyama and Kitayama districts, Kyoto
Characters are drawn on the mountains in fire. Kyoto's Gozan no Okuribi takes place on the night of August 16, sending t
08/17–08/17
Kumano Grand Fireworks Festival
Shichiri-mihama Beach, Kumano, Mie
Here the sea becomes the stage. For more than three centuries, fireworks have risen over Shichiri-mihama, the long pebbl
September 2026
1 events
09/12–09/13
Kishiwada Danjiri Festival
Kishiki Shrine and throughout the city, Kishiwada, Osaka
They take the corner at full speed. In Kishiwada, Osaka, hundreds of men race wooden floats weighing more than four tons
October 2026
2 events
10/01–11/23
MIND TRAIL Okuyamato
Yoshino, Tenkawa, Soni and the Okuyamato region, Nara
You walk through the mountains, and you look. In Okuyamato, the deep mountain region of southern Nara including Yoshino
10/14–10/15
Nada Fighting Festival
Matsubara Hachiman Shrine, Shirahama-cho, Himeji, Hyogo
They smash the shrines together on purpose. In the Nada district of Himeji, three portable shrines are slammed into one
November 2026
1 events
11/03–11/03
Izushi Pottery Festival
Izushi castle town, Toyooka, Hyogo
It is simply white. That is Izushi ware. In Izushi, part of Toyooka in Hyogo, a small castle town called the little Kyot
January 2027
2 events
01/09–01/11
Nishinomiya Toka Ebisu
1-17 Shake-cho, Nishinomiya, Hyogo (Nishinomiya Shrine)
You run, and you seize the year's fortune. In Nishinomiya, Hyogo, stands the head shrine of the three thousand Ebisu shr
01/20–02/28
Nada Sake Brewery Open Days
A thin band of land between the sea and the mountains.
Nada, in Kobe, is the largest sake-producing district in Japan,
Year-round
Monthly (21)
Toji Kobo-ichi Flea Market
1 Kujo-cho, Minami-ku, Kyoto (To-ji Temple grounds)
On the 21st of every month, the grounds of To-ji Temple become a market.
More than a thousand stalls. Antiques, old too
Daily (closed Wed)
Nishiki Market
Nishikikoji-dori, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto
It has long been called Kyoto's kitchen. Nishiki Market runs about three hundred and ninety meters under its arcade, lin
Every 2th Sat
Heian Flea Market
Okazaki Park, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto
Once a month, someone's past gathers in a plaza. At Okazaki Park in Kyoto, the Heian Flea Market sets up on the second S
Daily
Kuromon Market
Nipponbashi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Osaka
People call it Osaka's kitchen. Kuromon Market stretches about five hundred and eighty meters, lined with some hundred a
Daily
Nishiawakura Local Venture Program
Nishiawakura, Aida District, Okayama
A village that did not abandon its forest is calling the young. Nishiawakura in Okayama is a small mountain village of a
Daily
Yoshino Forestry Experience
Yoshino, Yoshino District, Nara
Looking five hundred years ahead, you plant a tree. Yoshino in Nara is famous for its cherry blossoms. But it is also a
Daily
Nishijin Textile Experience
Nishijin district, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto
A single thread becomes a pattern like a cosmos. Nishijin in Kyoto is the home of the luxury silk textile called Nishiji
毎年8月第2土曜
Shanshan Festival: Ten Thousand Bells in Tottori
Central Tottori City, Tottori
The sound comes before the sight. Thousands of bells, each attached to a paper umbrella, producing a collective shimmer
不定期（月1〜2回）
Kobe Kitano Antique Market
Kitanocho, Chuo-ku, Kobe City, Hyogo
Kobe's Kitano district was built for the foreign traders who arrived after the port opened in the 1860s. Their houses —
3月下旬〜4月上旬（菜の花）、10月（コスモス）
Asuka Fujiwara Palace Ruins: A Field of Canola in Spring
Takadono, Kashihara City, Nara
The Fujiwara Palace was Japan's first permanent capital, built in 694 and abandoned thirty years later when the court mo
通年（月曜休）
Inujima Art Project: Ruins as Canvas
Inujima, Higashi-ku, Okayama City, Okayama
Inujima had a copper refinery that operated for just a decade before closing in 1919, leaving behind smokestacks and fur
通年（各窯元により異なる）
Bizen Yaki: Touching a Thousand-Year-Old Tradition
Imbe, Bizen City, Okayama
Bizen ware uses no glaze and no painted decoration. The colors — the ash glazes that form naturally, the flame marks, th
通年（各工房により異なる）
Awa Ai: Dyeing with Japan's Most Famous Indigo
Tokushima City and Yoshinogawa river valley, Tokushima
The Yoshino River valley in Tokushima was once Japan's largest indigo-producing region, supplying the blue that dyed the
通年（要事前申込）
Nishiawakura: Living the Rural Revival From the Inside
Nishiawakura Village, Aida-gun, Okayama
Nishiawakura Village has a population of roughly fifteen hundred and a reputation, among people interested in rural rege
通年
Kamiyama: The Village That Reinvented Itself for Remote Work
Kamiyama Town, Myozai-gun, Tokushima
Kamiyama is a small mountain town in Tokushima with a population under two thousand and a reputation, in certain circles
通年
Wakasa: Sleeping in a Farmhouse That Someone Brought Back to Life
Wakasa Town, Mikata-kami-gun, Fukui
The farmhouses of the Wakasa Town area have been standing for generations — thick-beamed structures built for the winter
通年（舟屋日和などのイベントは季節限定）
Ine Funaya: Houses That Open Directly onto the Sea
Ine Town, Yosa-gun, Kyoto
The funaya of Ine Bay are houses built directly over the water, with their ground floors serving as garages for fishing
2026年8月中旬（例年8月上旬〜中旬）
Naniwa Yodogawa Fireworks Festival
Yodo River, Osaka
The people made this one themselves. The Yodogawa fireworks began in 1989 not as a municipal project but as a grassroots
2026年7月下旬（例年7月）
Himeji Minato Festival Sea Fireworks
Himeji Port, Himeji, Hyogo
This is the sea festival of the city of the white castle. Himeji is crowned by its great fortress—a World Heritage site,
2026年8月10日（例年8月10日前後）
Shirahama Fireworks Festival
Shirarahama Beach, Shirahama, Wakayama
On the white sand, you wait for the fireworks. Shirahama in southern Wakayama has one of the most beautiful beaches in J
2026年8月16日（例年8月16日）
Miyazu Lantern Float Fireworks Festival
Miyazu Bay, Miyazu, Kyoto
Here lanterns and fireworks overlap on the sea. Miyazu Bay is known for Amanohashidate, the pine-covered sandbar counted
2026年8月中旬（阿波おどり前夜・例年8月）
Awa Odori Eve Fireworks Festival
Shinmachi River, Tokushima City
This is the eve of the dancing fools. "The dancers are fools and the watchers are fools," goes the famous chant of the A
2026年8月中旬（例年8月）
Takamatsu Festival Fireworks
Sunport Takamatsu, Takamatsu, Kagawa
Fire opens over the Seto sea. Takamatsu, capital of Kagawa on the island of Shikoku, is a port town facing the Inland Se
通年（要予約・工房により異なる）
Kyoto Kiyomizuyaki Pottery Experience
Gojozaka, Higashiyama, Kyoto City, Kyoto
You touch the clay of a thousand-year-old capital. Along the slopes climbing toward Kiyomizu Temple, the pottery known a
国立文楽劇場（大阪・日本橋）で、初春・春・夏・秋など年に数回の本公演。日程は公演により異なります。
Bunraku at the National Theatre Osaka
Three people to a single puppet.
Bunraku, the puppet theatre that grew up in Osaka, works its central illusion through
阿波十郎兵衛屋敷で、ほぼ毎日（時間は季節により変動）の定期上演。詳細は施設にご確認ください。
Awa Puppet Theatre at Jurobei Yashiki
Puppet theatre, but the village kind.
The puppet drama of Awa is not the refined Bunraku of the city but something that
壬生寺で、例年春（4月～5月）と秋、節分などに上演される無言の宗教劇。日程は年により異なります。
Mibu Kyogen
A kyogen with no voices.
Mibu Kyogen has been performed at Mibu Temple in Kyoto for some seven hundred years, and its p
毎年10月22日（雨天順延）
Jidai Matsuri: Kyoto Walks Through Eleven Centuries
Kyoto Imperial Palace to Heian Shrine, Kyoto
On October 22nd, Kyoto walks through its own memory. The Jidai Matsuri—the Festival of the Ages—is a procession of some
毎年10月22日
Kurama Fire Festival: A Corridor of Flame North of Kyoto
Around Yuki Shrine, Kurama, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto
On the same night Kyoto's grand costume procession ends, thirty minutes north by mountain railway, a very different cere
例年1月下旬〜2月上旬（約10日間）
Kobe Luminarie: Light That Began as Mourning
Meriken Park, Higashi Yuen park, and the former foreign settlement, Kobe
Kobe Luminarie began as an act of mourning. In December 1995, eleven months after the Great Hanshin Earthquake killed mo
毎年1月第4土曜（荒天順延）
Wakakusa Yamayaki: The Night Nara Sets a Mountain on Fire
Mount Wakakusa and Nara Park, Nara
On the fourth Saturday of January, Nara sets a mountain on fire. Wakakusa-yama is the grass-covered hill that rises dire