What’s On In Hiroshima May 2026
May kicks off with Golden Week. It is extra long this year, and despite sometimes unpredictable weather, it always brings the city to life. Hiroshima bursts with color during its biggest annual street festival, and a British singer of genuine international standing is about to play a secret show.
May in Hiroshima packs a remarkable amount in: the thrill of traditional Kagura, French Impressionists and Art Nouveau masters, fireworks over the Seto Inland Sea, one of the largest airshows in Asia, German beer in the city center, Il Divo at Ueno Gakuen Hall, and enough live sport to fill your entire month. Here’s everything worth knowing.
Featured Event: Celeste
Celeste Secret Show in Hiroshima
May 7 (Thursday) | Ongakushokudo Ondo | Doors 19:30, Start 20:00 | ¥5,000 + 1 drink | Limited to 50 tickets
Celeste — the British singer-songwriter who was named BBC Sound of 2020, topped the UK Albums Chart with her debut, and performed at Glastonbury alongside Nile Rodgers & Chic, Rod Stewart, Olivia Rodrigo, and The Libertines — is playing a show in Hiroshima. Not Tokyo. Not Osaka. Hiroshima. This special gig, limited to just 50 people at Ongaku Shokudo Ondo, is the result of a two-year conversation with the artist over DM!
If this is your kind of music, stop reading and reserve now: [email protected]
Golden Week (May 3–6)
Hiroshima Flower Festival
May 3–5 | Heiwa Odori and surrounds | Free
Hiroshima’s biggest annual event, drawing over a million visitors across three days, is one of the best advertisements for what this city does when it decides to celebrate. The main parade runs on May 3rd along Heiwa Odori — one of the widest tree-lined boulevards in Japan, designed that way after the war precisely for moments like this. Food stalls, live stages, and neighborhood groups keep things going through May 4th, before the Yosakoi Parade closes things out on May 5th with a burst of color and pounding music.
👉 More about the Hiroshima Flower Festival
Look out for Skate World, an underground skating event, with live bands and DJs, running on the fringes of the Flower Festival — raw, community-run, and a good counterpoint to the main event if you know where to look.
Hiroshima Frühlingsfest
April 28–May 6 | Hiroshima Gate Park Plaza | Free entry
Running right through Golden Week, this German-style spring beer festival takes over Hiroshima Gate Park Plaza with imported draft beers, German cuisine, and live stage performances. Advance tickets offer good value — ¥3,000 gets you ¥3,500 worth of venue vouchers, ¥5,000 gets you ¥6,000.
Cry Baby Sumo (Naki Sumo)
May 5 | Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine
A beloved Japanese tradition in which very young children are placed in the arms of sumo wrestlers and the winner is the baby who cries loudest, or in some versions, first. It is exactly as chaotic and delightful as it sounds. Gokoku Shrine’s Golden Week timing makes this a natural add-on to Flower Festival weekend.
Performing Arts
Wednesday Night Kagura
Every Wednesday in May | Hiroshima Prefectural Citizens’ Culture Center | Doors 18:00, Show 19:00–19:45
May’s program leans into some of the most dramatic stories in the Hiroshima kagura repertoire:
May 6 — Mt. Katsuragi (feat. The Spider Demon)
May 13 — Jinrin (The Winged Demon)
May 20 — Yamata no Orochi (The Eight-Headed Serpent) — the one with the fog machines and the costume that needs several people to wear it
May 27 — Shouki
New to Kagura? The plays featuring the Spider Demon on May 6th and the Eight-headed Serpent on May 20 are great introductions — theatrical, visually spectacular, and a showcase of what makes this regional tradition so distinctive.
👉 Wednesday Night Kagura Details
Live Music & Nightlife
Donna Leake
May 9 | Ongaku Shokudo Ondo
Just a couple of days after Celeste performs, Ongaku Shokudo Ondo hosts another guest from the UK who will delight local audiophiles. Donns Leake will be crafting a trademark eclectic soundscape over the Ondo’s luscious sound system on May 9.
Il Divo — Live in Concert
May 11 | Hiroshima Ueno Gakuen Hall | 19:00
The internationally renowned classical crossover quartet — three parts operatic tenor, one part pop spectacle — brings their current Japan tour to Hiroshima Ueno Gakuen Hall. W
👉 @il Divo
Hallelujah 10th Anniversary
May 17 | Kitchen & Bar Hallelujah
Owner bartender Shuji marks 10 years of serving drinks, conversation, and fun events.
Disney on Classic — A Gift of Dream and Magic 2026
May 23 | Ueno Gakuen Hall| 19:30
A live orchestra performing Disney film scores — the kind of event that sells out fast and tends to land harder than you’d expect, whether or not you’d call yourself a Disney fan. Worth checking showtimes and booking early.
Art & Culture
Hiroshima Comiket
May 10 | Hiroshima Sangyo Kaikan
One of the largest doujinshi conventions in the Chugoku region, with fan-made manga, games, music, and original indie works across all genres, plus a cosplay zone for photo sessions and character interaction. A genuinely warm, community-run event with a different energy to the big Tokyo equivalents — the scale means exhibitors and visitors are close, and there’s a lot of young creative energy on display. The sister event, Hiroshima I Doll, a marketplace for doll and figure collectors, runs alongside it.
Toulouse-Lautrec and Mucha — Ten Years in Paris
Until May 31 | Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum
The final weeks of this major exhibition pair two giants of the Belle Époque — Toulouse-Lautrec’s intimate and gritty depictions of Montmartre nightlife alongside Mucha’s sweeping Art Nouveau decorative splendor. Closing at the end of the month, so don’t leave it too late.
Albert Marquet: A Retrospective
Until May 31 | Hiroshima Museum of Art
Also running to the end of May. Marquet, a close friend of Matisse and one of the original Fauvists, developed a contemplative later style — harbors, grey skies, bridges, rivers — that sits in quiet conversation with Hiroshima itself. A beautiful show in a beautiful museum.
The Secret of Finnish Sauna
Until June 28 | Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art
Running through the spring and into summer, this exhibition makes a surprisingly absorbing case for Finnish sauna culture as a living art form. No rush — but well worth combining with a visit to Hiroshima MOCA before the summer heat arrives.
Azalea Bonsai Exhibition
May 23–29 | Shukkeien Garden
Shukkeien Garden is one of Hiroshima’s most underrated spots at any time of year, but during the late-spring azalea season, it becomes genuinely spectacular. This dedicated bonsai exhibition, held among the garden’s ponds and stepping-stone paths, is a highlight of the horticultural calendar.
Festivals
Ji no Hi Matsuri — The Giant Umbrella Festival
May 21–22 | Asuna, Ohnan (Shimane Prefecture)
Worth the trip out of the city for this one. The Ji no Hi Matsuri is one of the most visually unusual festivals in the Chugoku region — a ceremony in which enormous handmade umbrellas, some towering over the participants, are paraded through the mountain village of Asuna.
Manto Mitama Matsuri
May 29–30 | Hiroshima Gokoku Shrine
One of the most atmospheric events on the Hiroshima calendar. At dusk, Gokoku Shrine is lit by thousands of paper lanterns — manto — offered in memory of those who have passed. The combination of soft lantern light, shrine architecture, and the communal act of remembrance makes this a quietly moving occasion. Worth attending on both evenings if you can.
👉 Event guide | Event page
Bentenjima Fireworks Festival
May 30 | Tomonoura, Fukuyama
The Seto Inland Sea port town of Tomonoura — one of the most beautiful historic townscapes in western Japan, and the visual inspiration for Studio Ghibli’s Ponyo — hosts the region’s first fireworks festival of the year, over the small island of Bentenjima. A spectacular setting, well worth the journey from Hiroshima.
👉 Event details | bentenjima-hanabi.jp
Cinema
English language offerings from Hiroshima’s independent cinemas in May.
Hatchoza is showing Wicked until mid-May — screenings at 12:25 and 18:00 until May 7th, then evenings only from May 8th.
Salon Cinema has a strong lineup:
Is This Thing On — until May 7th (15:45), then May 8–14 (16:10)
Hamnet — the adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed novel, running in three separate weekly slots through May 21st
Baseball: Hiroshima Carp at Mazda Stadium
The Carp head into May sitting 4th in the Central League, with Hanshin leading the pack at 16 wins from 26 games. There’s ground to make up, but May’s home schedule is busy, and Mazda Stadium is one of the best ballpark atmospheres in Japan — especially for evening games as the weather improves.
| Dates | Opponent |
| May 1, 2, 3 | Chunichi Dragons |
| May 8, 9, 10 | Yakult Swallows |
| May 19, 20, 21 | Yokohama BayStars |
| May 26, 27, 28 | Chiba Lotte Marines |
The Golden Week series against Chunichi is a good opportunity to get to the stadium without fighting for tickets — weekday games during Golden Week can be surprisingly accessible.
Football: Sanfrecce Hiroshima at Edion Peace Wing Stadium
Sanfrecce go into May in 7th place in the J1 League West with 16 points from 11 games (4W, 2D, 5L) — a frustratingly inconsistent run that has included defeats to Shimizu and Vissel Kobe, but has been broken by a confident 2-0 home win over V-Varen Nagasaki in April. Defender Hayato Araki has been the standout performer this season , with Hayao Kawabe and Naoto Arai also impressing in midfield. Akito Suzuki and Ryo Germain lead the scoring with 3 goals each.
| Date | Opponent | Kick off Time |
| May 6 | Vissel Kobe | 18:30 |
| May 10 | Gamba Osaka | 15:00 |
| May 17 | Kyoto Sanga F.C. | 15:00 |
| May 23 | Nagoya Grampus | 14:00 |
| May 30 | TBC | 14:00 |
Three home games in the second half of the month. The Peace Wing is one of the finest football venues in Japan — if you still haven’t been, this is the month to fix that.
Sport: Kurahashi Aquathlon
July 19 | Katsura-ga-hama Beach, Kurahashi Island
Entries are currently open for this swim-run event on Kurahashi Island, starting and finishing at beautiful Katsura-ga-hama Beach. There are options for beginners through to hardcore competitors, and the island — a short ferry ride from Hiroshima city — is one of those easy day trips that residents often overlook. Added bonus: a fireworks festival the night before makes for a compelling overnight trip.
