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Event

Event List

Spring

Fujisan, Sacred Place and Source of Artistic Inspiration Cherry Blossoms at Mount Fuji

Mt. Fuji is officially opened for climbing on the Yamanashi side on July 1, and on the Shizuoka side on July 10. In the city of Fujiyoshida in Yamanashi Prefecture, the Mt. Fuji Opening Eve Festival is held the day before, on June 30, and features a parade as far as the Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine. On the Shizuoka side, a ritual to open the mountain for climbing is held at the Fujisan Hongu Sengen-taisha Shrine on July 10.

*Event schedules and details are subject to change due to weather or organizational circumstances. Please check the website before going out.

Hiraizumi - Temples,Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land - Spring Fujiwara Festival

Hiraizumi was founded in the Tohoku region as a wish for a peaceful nation. In the twelfth century, Minamoto-no-Yoshitsune arrived here, fleeing his brother Yoritomo, who had established the Kamakura Shogunate, and was warmly welcomed by Fujiwara-no-Hidehira and the local populace.
Celebrating this, a parade of a hundred people march between the temples of Môtsû-ji and Chûson-ji, recreating images from Heian-period picture scrolls.

*Event schedules and details are subject to change due to weather or organizational circumstances. Please check the website before going out.

Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and its Cultural Landscape Yunotsu Night Kagura Dance

At one point, Japan was said to have produced a third of the world's silver. The heart of that production was the silver mine at Iwami.
Along with the silver mine site, Yunotsu, with its old port, streetscape, and hot spring, has also been made a World Heritage site. Every Saturday, special performances of Iwami kagura, sacred dances, are offered at Tatsunogozen Shrine. This is the only place you can visit a World Heritage site, bathe in a hot spring that has bubbled forth for 13 centuries, and see traditional culture live, first-hand.

*Event schedules and details are subject to change due to weather or organizational circumstances. Please check the website before going out.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony video thumbnail

Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome) Summer in Hiroshima

Held on the night of the anniversary of the atomic bombing as a way to pray for lasting world peace. It began shortly after the end of the Second World War, when citizens and people who had lost loved ones in the war began setting hand-made lanterns floating down the river. The lights within each lantern are lit from the fires left from the atomic-bombing of Hiroshima.

*Event schedules and details are subject to change due to weather or organizational circumstances. Please check the website before going out.

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Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara Summer Nights in Nara

In the first half of August, some of Japan’s most important rituals take place in Nara.
Nara Tokae Lantern Festival: August 5–14 (scheduled)
Chugen Mantoro Lantern Festival: August 14 & 15 at Kasuga-taisha Shrine
Manto Kuyoe Lantern Festival: August 15 at Todai-ji Temple
Nara Daimonji Okuribi (fire festival): Tobihino, Mt. Takamado

*Event schedules and details are subject to change due to weather or organizational circumstances. Please check the website before going out.

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Jomon Prehistoric Sites in Northern Japan Jomon Festival

(Event Outline) A music festival, nature games, creating your own earthen figures, making fire, trying Jomon foods, lectures and more are planned to be held on the Jomon sites, which are now a World Heritage site.

*Event schedules and details are subject to change due to weather or organizational circumstances. Please check the website before going out.

NAKED meets NIJO-JO CASTLE 2025 video thumbnail

A Flow of Summer Light Autumn in Kyoto

At the World Heritage Site Nijo Castle, we will hold the night-time light-up event “NAKED meets Nijo Castle 2025 - Evening Cool Festival” so that visitors can fully enjoy the festive atmosphere of summer nights.

*Event schedules and details are subject to change due to weather or organizational circumstances. Please check the website before going out.

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Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama Special Simultaneous Firehose Discharge

*Event schedules and details are subject to change due to weather or organizational circumstances. Please check the website before going out.

Shuri Castle Reconstruction Festival video thumbnail

Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu Recovery Festival at Shuri Castle

To raise awareness of Shuri Castle, which burned down in 2019, and to increase momentum for its reconstruction, as well as to spread information on Ryukyu culture, traditional performing arts such as Ryukyu dances and ceremonial events connected with the ancient kings and queens of the Ryukyu Kingdom will be performed, along with other related events.
Reconstruction of the Main Hall at Shuri Castle is expected to be completed in 2026.

*Event schedules and details are subject to change due to weather or organizational circumstances. Please check the website before going out.

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Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go and Gokayama / Tomioka Silk Mill and Related Sites Journey Through World Heritage Connected by Silk

*Event schedules and details are subject to change due to weather or organizational circumstances. Please check the website before going out.

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HIMEJI-JO Himeji Castle Illumination

As this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the World Heritage Site Himeji Castle will host DANDELION PROJECT, an interactive art installation by NAKED, INC., themed around “peace.”
Inspired by the motif of dandelion fluff — a universal symbol of “prayer” — the project creates a special, enchanting night experience. While honoring the history and cultural significance of Himeji Castle, it offers a “peaceful experience of light” that resonates across generations and borders, leaving visitors with a quiet yet heartfelt sense of hope.

*Event schedules and details are subject to change due to weather or organizational circumstances. Please check the website before going out.

Silent Christmas

Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region Silent Christmas

The terraced rice paddies of the village of Kasuga, one of the places where Christians hid from persecution, is illuminated from November with 7,000 lights (18:00 to 20:00). Illuminations in the various churches begin in December, and inside, nativity scenes and other decorations are on display. The Arima Seminary, roughly equivalent to middle school today, was established by the Jesuits in 1580 as their first seminary in Japan, in what is now the city of Minami-Shimabara. On the 3rd of December each year is held the Festivus Natalis, and the procession of “barbarians” is recreated in memory of the Tensho Embassy of Japanese youth to Europe in 1582 .

*Event schedules and details are subject to change due to weather or organizational circumstances. Please check the website before going out.