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Events in Japan in May 2027

Dates verified: September 27, 2026

The most memorable festivals, fireworks nights, flower seasons, snow festivals and light-ups in May 2027, each date checked against its organiser. Filter by kind or city, and open an event for the details.

  • FestivalExpectedHakata Dontaku Port Festival · 3–4 May博多どんたく港まつりFukuoka · FreeFukuoka's Golden Week street party, a two-afternoon parade of costumed groups along Meiji-dori and dozens of open stages across the city centre.
    A troupe of dancers in red happi coats and comic Hyottoko masks with checked headscarves dancing along the Hakata Dontaku parade route, spectators lining the street behind them
    フェレス via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.1 JP · cropped
  • FestivalExpected · dates to be confirmedKanda Matsuri · Early May 2027 – Mid May 2027神田祭Tokyo · FreeOne of Tokyo’s three great festivals, held in full only in odd-numbered years: a day-long procession through central Tokyo and a Sunday of some two hundred neighbourhood mikoshi entering Kanda Myojin.
    A gold mikoshi held aloft by bearers in indigo happi coats and green headbands as it is carried into the precinct of Kanda Myojin Shrine during Kanda Matsuri in Tokyo
    江戸村のとくぞう via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
  • FestivalExpected · dates to be confirmedSanja Matsuri · Late May 2027三社祭Tokyo · FreeTokyo's rowdiest shrine festival, three May days when around a hundred mikoshi are carried through Asakusa before the three great shrine palanquins go out.
    A gilded mikoshi carried through a dense crowd in the precinct of Senso-ji during Sanja Matsuri, bearers in indigo and olive happi coats packed around it and the Hozomon gate rising behind
    Julie Fader via Unsplash · Unsplash License · cropped
  • IlluminationComing soonNabana 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.
    A curving light tunnel glowing pink beside a bed of red LED tulips at Nabana no Sato at night, real trees lit warm above it and a blue LED field in the distance
    carloshonda via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 · cropped
  • FlowersExpected · dates to be confirmedHirosaki Cherry Blossom Festival · Early April 2027 – Early May 2027弘前さくらまつりHirosaki · Aomori · FreeJapan's most celebrated castle-park hanami, where thousands of cherry trees line Hirosaki Castle's moats and fallen petals turn the water into a pink carpet.
    The moat at Hirosaki Castle at night, its surface carpeted end to end with fallen pink petals, floodlit cherry trees leaning over both banks against a black sky
    掬茶 via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped
  • FlowersExpected · dates to be confirmedHitachi Seaside Park Nemophila · Mid April 2027 – Early May 2027ネモフィラハーモニーHitachinaka · Ibaraki · From ¥800The blue hill of Hitachi Seaside Park, where millions of nemophila cover Miharashi Hill against the sky and the Pacific for three weeks each spring.
    A woman in a long coral dress carrying a red and white paper parasol, walking a rope-lined path through a vast sweep of pale blue nemophila rising to a hazy horizon at Hitachi Seaside Park
    Nguyen TP Hai via Unsplash · Unsplash License · cropped
  • FlowersExpected · dates to be confirmedAshikaga Flower Park Great Wisteria Festival · Mid April 2027 – Mid May 2027ふじのはな物語～大藤まつりAshikaga · Tochigi · From ¥1,200Japan's most famous wisteria, a 160-year-old Great Wisteria whose canopy spreads across a vast trellis, lit at night through the six-week Ashikaga festival.
    The Great Wisteria at Ashikaga Flower Park lit at night, its canopy of pale pink racemes hanging from a vast trellis above a boardwalk of visitors, mirrored in the still pond in front
    Michael Lee via Unsplash · Unsplash License · cropped
  • FlowersExpected · dates to be confirmedFuji Shibazakura Festival · Mid April 2027 – Late May 2027富士芝桜まつりFujikawaguchiko · Yamanashi · From ¥1,000A carpet of pink moss phlox beneath a snow-capped Mount Fuji, the largest shibazakura display in the Tokyo region and one of the great Fuji views of spring.
    Sweeps of magenta and lilac moss phlox in front of a reflecting pond at Fuji Motosuko Resort, with snow-capped Mount Fuji rising behind a line of dark conifers
    t.kunikuni via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 · cropped
  • FlowersExpected · dates to be confirmedKawachi Wisteria Garden · Mid April 2027 – Early May 2027河内藤園Kitakyushu · Fukuoka · From ¥600The wisteria tunnels of Kawachi Fuji-en, a private garden in the hills of Kitakyushu open for three weeks each spring by timed ticket only.
    Pale mauve wisteria racemes hanging densely from a timber and bamboo trellis at Kawachi Fuji-en, the gnarled old trunk of the vine beneath it and a wooded hillside behind
    そらみみ (Soramimi) via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · cropped

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