Setsubun: demons, beans, fish heads, sushi and screaming children

January 25, 2026February 3, 2026 Paul Walsh 17648 Views Setsubun, Winter

On Setsubun people across Japan look forward to spring witb demons, beans, sushi rolls, and stinky fish!

Tondo Matsuri

January 2, 2026January 9, 2026 Paul Walsh 23461 Views New Year, Tondo, Winter

Huge bonfires snap, crackle and pop around Hiroshima in the middle of January, sending the hope and dreams embodied in the past year’s votive goods and new year decorations up to the heavens.

Arts & Entertainment Features Festivals

Ebisu Taisai Festival

November 17, 2025November 18, 2025 Paul Walsh 12480 Views Autumn, Festival, November

Hiroshima’s city center is taken over by one more colorful festival before winter. Ebisu Matsuri is all about good fortune, cash and bamboo rakes.

Features Festivals

Miyajima Kangen-sai

July 10, 2025October 14, 2025 Paul Walsh 18852 Views Festival, Miyajima, Summer

The Kangensai boat festival centered on Itsukushima Shrine is probably Miyjima’s biggest festival of the year.

Arts & Entertainment Features Festivals

Tōkasan Yukata Festival

June 5, 2025June 5, 2025 Paul Walsh 28000 Views

Held every year for three days starting on the first Friday of June, Tōkasan [とうかさん] is the most festive of

Arts & Entertainment Festivals

Mihara Shinmei-ichi Daruma Festival

February 5, 2025February 11, 2025 Paul Walsh 19133 Views Winter

Over 500 street stalls selling every imaginable kind of festival food, daruma dolls, a plant and shrub market, daruma dolls, haunted houses, daruma dolls, open air karaoke competitions, thousands of people, and more daruma dolls, including the biggest in the world.

Arts & Entertainment Features Festivals Food and drink

Nanakusa-no-sekku

January 6, 2025January 7, 2025 Paul Walsh 13332 Views New Year, Winter

“The feast of seven herbs” is a day on which people in Japan customarily eat a healthy seven-herb rice porridge to ensure give the stomach a break from the indulgences of New Year.