Events in Japan in March 2027
Dates verified: November 12, 2026
The most memorable festivals, fireworks nights, flower seasons, snow festivals and light-ups in March 2027, each date checked against its organiser. Filter by kind or city, and open an event for the details.
- Edo Yoshiwara Oiran Dochu · Mid March 2027江戸吉原おいらん道中Tokyo · FreeYoshiwara's courtesan procession, walked twice in an afternoon at Sumida Park by a tayu in thirty kilos of silk, lacquer and hairpins.
Susann Schuster via Unsplash · Unsplash License · cropped - Already running
- Nabana no Sato Illumination · 17 Oct 2026 – 31 May 2027なばなの里 イルミネーションKuwana · Mie · From ¥2,500Japan's largest garden illumination, from mid-October to the end of May in a flower park near Nagoya, with a light tunnel and a field of millions of LEDs.
carloshonda via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 · cropped - Sapporo White Illumination · 20 Nov 2026 – 14 Mar 2027さっぽろホワイトイルミネーションSapporo · Hokkaido · FreeJapan's oldest city illumination, lighting Odori Park and Sapporo's main streets from late November into the snow of February, with a German Christmas market.
Sorah Fukumori via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 · cropped - Mito Plum Blossom Festival · 11 Feb – 22 Mar水戸の梅まつりMito · Ibaraki · From ¥500Japan's best-known plum blossom festival, six late-winter weeks when three thousand plum trees bloom in Kairakuen, one of the three great gardens of Japan.
Etwas Neues via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0 · cropped
Frequently Asked Questions
Plum blossom is the answer. The Mito Plum Blossom Festival at Kairakuen runs to the third Sunday of March, with its fullest display in late February and early March, and Nabana no Sato’s plum and early Kawazu cherry bloom beneath its illumination with a fraction of December’s crowds. Yunishigawa’s kamakura hold on into the first days of the month, and Sapporo’s station plaza stays lit until mid-March.
A few, at the tail of the season. The Echigo-Yuzawa Onsen Snow Festival is one evening on the first Saturday of March, with snow candles, a torchlight ski descent and fireworks a few minutes’ walk from the shinkansen station. Higher resorts keep their snow, and the Zao ropeway runs by day, but the winter light-ups have mostly finished by the end of February.
Sakura opens in Kyushu and Tokyo in the last week of March in an average year, and hotels in Kyoto and Tokyo price the final ten days of the month as high season. Northern festivals such as Hirosaki’s follow in April. March itself warms week by week, so it suits a trip that starts with plum and ends with the first cherry, with rooms booked early for the finish.