Free Festivals in Japan

Girls' Day festival with ornate doll displays celebrating daughters' health.

Naked festival at Saidaiji Temple where men compete for sacred sticks.

Spectacular Chinese lantern festival with 15,000 lanterns illuminating Nagasaki.

Snow hut festival in Akita where visitors enjoy mochi and amazake inside igloos.

Early-blooming cherry blossom festival along the Kawazu River.

Snow lantern festival at Hirosaki Castle with hundreds of snow lanterns.

Hokkaido's second-largest winter festival with massive snow sculptures.

Japan's most famous winter festival with massive snow and ice sculptures.

Bean-throwing ceremony to ward off evil spirits, held at temples across Japan.

Spectacular light art installation commemorating the 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake.

Ice sculpture festival at Lake Shikotsu with illuminated ice creations.

Breaking of New Year mochi decorations, symbolizing new beginnings.

Osaka's New Year business prosperity festival at Imamiya Ebisu Shrine.

Japan's most famous long-distance relay race from Tokyo to Hakone and back.

Japanese New Year celebrations with traditional food, games, and shrine visits.

First shrine or temple visit of the New Year, a nationwide tradition.