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August 16, 2026
 

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FESTIVALS

At the Akita Kanto Festival held in the city of Akita this week, city officials with bear repellent sprays are patrolling the area around the festival venue.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 5, 2026
Organizers of summer festivals in Tohoku strengthen measures against bears
While protocols vary across prefectures, several organizers say events may be canceled if a bear is spotted within a certain distance of the festival venue.
The finale of the Saga Joka Sakae no Kuni Matsuri festival in the city of Saga on May 24
JAPAN / Society
Jul 15, 2026
Organizers reschedule summer events to dodge extreme heat and heavy rain
Summer festivals and fireworks shows that used to be held in July or August have either been brought forward or pushed back.
It's not unheard of for summer temperatures in Kumagaya to reached over 40 degrees Celsius, but the Uchiwa Festival goes on regardless.
LIFE / Travel
Jul 14, 2026
Surviving the Uchiwa Festival, Â鶹´«Ã½ hottest ¡®matsuri¡¯
Temperatures in Kumagaya, home of the raucous Uchiwa Festival, often top 40 degrees Celsius.
For one April Sunday each year, the otherwise working class city of Kawasaki becomes host to one of Japan's most unusual-looking festivals.
LIFE / Travel
May 23, 2026
At Kawasaki¡¯s ¡®penis festival,¡¯ phalluses are vessels of compassion
The event ¡®may look weird,¡¯ says a priestess of Kanayama Shrine, but its origins and purpose point to a deeper meaning.
Devotees walk on a forest path as they carry a portable shrine holding a deity back to the Musashi Mitake Shrine on the second day of the two-day Hinode Sai, or Sunrise Festival, in Ome, Tokyo, on Wednesday.
JAPAN
Apr 30, 2026
Mountain festival marks spring arrival high above Tokyo
The Hinode Sai, or Sunrise Festival, is believed to have started when wandering ascetics climbed Mount Mitake in search of enlightenment.
The main lantern attracts visitors to the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Chiayi on March 3.
JAPAN / Society
Apr 5, 2026
Lantern festival host city showcases Taiwan-Japan history and culture
Taiwan has preserved many colonial-era buildings, breathing new life into them, backed by the recent ¡°retro¡± trend among young people.
The Yamatsumi Shrine festival is held once again in the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture, in December.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2026
Major shrine festival back in Fukushima village
It had not been unusual for Yamatsumi Shrine, one of rare Shinto shrines dedicated to wolves, to be flooded with people and stalls during its annual festival before 3/11.
The Murakami Festival, held in the city of Murakami, Niigata Prefecture, has been added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list along with five other items from Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2025
Six Japanese items added to UNESCO intangible heritage list
Four of the six new items will be registered under the category of ¡°Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan.¡±
Young people from Okinawa in the Kansai region dance during the first Eisa festival in Osaka¡¯s Taisho Ward in September 1975.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Oct 20, 2025
Taking pride in its Okinawan roots, Osaka¡¯s Eisa festival marks 50th year
The festival celebrating the traditional Okinawan summer dance was created for young workers to resist discrimination and reclaim pride in their roots.
Japan Times
CULTURE
Aug 28, 2025
In pictures: Koenji Awa Odori 2025
At Koenji Awa Odori, performers and crowds blur together in sound, sweat and laughter ¡ª a summer festival that thrives on shared energy and joy.
Francisco Villarreal moved to Japan in 2014 to attend a teacher training program and has forged deep ties to the kindergarten in Tokyo's Asakusa district where he has worked since 2018.
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Aug 11, 2025
Kindred spirits, kindergarten connections: From Buenos Aires to east Tokyo
An Argentinian teacher finds echoes of his hometown in the working-class neighborhoods of eastern Tokyo.
A man takes part in Tokyo¡¯s Sanja Matsuri by helping to carry a "mikoshi" (portable shrine). Many Japanese festivals are open to foreign residents and tourists to participate in.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 19, 2025
Dancers, festivals and one very useful Japanese grammar point
From Kyoto¡¯s Gion Matsuri to Tokyo¡¯s Sumida fireworks, Â鶹´«Ã½ summer festivals offer history, spectacle ¡ª and a chance to learn some vocabulary.
Tatsumi Onose (right), who plays the part of Commodore Matthew Perry in Shimoda's Black Ship Festival, says the historical episode the event is based on should be remembered for its positives more than its negatives.
LIFE / Travel
May 8, 2025
Celebrating Â鶹´«Ã½ defeat at Shimoda¡¯s Black Ship Festival
Held this year from May 16 to 18, an event to the south of Tokyo turns a historical episode of national humiliation into a plain old good time.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba enters the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Apr 18, 2025
Ishiba not to visit Yasukuni Shrine during spring festival
No sitting prime minister has paid a visit to the shrine since December 2013, when Shinzo Abe did so.
Tokyo Koon stands at the forefront of tackling the so-called 2025 issue, also known as the ¡°Magnetic Tape Alert.¡±
JAPAN / Society / Longform
Feb 17, 2025
The race to save 20th-century history
Analog recordings are at risk of disappearing as old tech breaks down and spare parts run out.
A set of miniature "hina" dolls from the late Edo Period (1603-1868), collected by hina furnishings researcher Yumiko Kawauchi
CULTURE
Feb 10, 2025
Miniatures bring hidden worlds to life at Tokyo cultural site
A set of dolls from the late Edo Period is among the items on display on the premises of Hotel Gajoen Tokyo.
Hindu pilgrims take a dip along the banks of Sangam, ahead of the <i>maha</i> Kumbh Mela festival in the city of Prayagraj on Sunday. Beside India's holy rivers, a makeshift city is being built for a Hindu religious festival expected to be so vast it will be seen from space.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Dec 26, 2024
India readies for 400 million pilgrims at mammoth festival
The Kumbh Mela, a millennia-old festival, is held once every 12 years at the site where the holy Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers meet.
Tokyo's Odaiba waterfront area will host a major international art festival called Tokyo Odaiba Triennale 2025 from October to December next year.
JAPAN
Nov 28, 2024
Triennale aims to energize Tokyo¡¯s Odaiba area with art
The event will bring together works by famed Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama and other artists from Japan and abroad.
Students from Agatsuma¡¯s butoh workshop, also part of Sumi-Yume, will be joining her and professional butoh dancer Tomoshi Shioya for this weekend¡¯s shows.
CULTURE / Stage
Nov 8, 2024
Butoh dances to the sounds of Hokusai¡¯s hometown
Performances of the avant-garde dance form are part of a program dedicated to the revered artist and celebrating the local community in Sumida Ward.
The Kurama Fire Festival is one of Japan's most visceral 'matsuri' (festivals), but growing throngs of spectators could bring changes in the future.
LIFE / Travel
Nov 2, 2024
At Â鶹´«Ã½ hottest festival, crowds threaten to smother the flames
Despite the growing throngs of attendees, it¡¯s the smaller details of the Kurama Fire Festival that add up to more than the sum of its parts.
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
Authorities urge continued caution after heavy rain in Chiba leaves eight dead
A local resident walks past a 7-Eleven convenience store in a flooded area after heavy rain in the city of Oamishirasato, Chiba Prefecture, on Friday.
Takaichi drops ¡®remorse¡¯ in her first war memorial address
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks onstage during a memorial service ceremony marking the 81st anniversary of Japan&#039;s surrender in World War II, at Budokan Hall in Tokyo on Saturday.
U.S. to tell partners they must pick sides in AI race with China?
People march as they protest against Pax Silica, a U.S.-led initiative, in Manila on Thursday.
Â鶹´«Ã½ inflation paradox is creating winners and losers
Chieko Sugai at her home in Murakami, Niigata Prefecture
Forty-five meters down, a diver races to record a fleeting moment of WWII history
Kingo Wakasa photographs the kamikaze plane wing section he discovered at the USS Emmons wreck site.
Takaichi needs Aso on her side to solidify position in LDP
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attends a Liberal Democratic Party meeting alongside LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki (left) and LDP Vice President Taro Aso in Tokyo earlier this month
Ikarigata closer to emulating older brother Fujinokawa than many think
The future Fujinokawa (third from left) and Ikarigata (right) compete against each other at ages 5 and 3, respectively.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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