Summertime is festival time in Osaka. Kicking off the celebratory season is Tanabata, a traditional Japanese festival with origins in Chinese folklore.
According to legend, deity couple Orihime and Hikoboshi are separated by the Milky Way, and they are only able to meet once a year: on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Tanabata, or the Star Festival, celebrates the day of their reunion.
As Japan has largely dropped the lunar dating system in favour of the Gregorian calendar, Tanabata is commonly celebrated on July 7, which falls on a Monday this year.
The Star Festival is associated with grand, colourful streamers decorating streets, shopping malls and temples. Another popular custom is to write your wishes on strips of paper and hang them on bamboo trees.
Tanabata is one of the most joyous and colourful traditional celebrations in Osaka – and it offers great photo opportunities. So if you’re in the city between July 5 and 7, put any of these three Star Festival events on your to-do list.
Tanabata Lantern Festival at Hirakata Park
July 5–6
Hirakata Park’s Tanabata festival features a special indoor lantern area, where lanterns filled with wishes are launched. Summer festival stalls offer carnival games like superball scooping, yo-yo fishing and shooting. There are also workshops that allow you to paint masks and make flower crowns or have your face painted.
Consider picking up a ¥200 fortune-telling slip that reveals your future when placed onto water. What’s more, guests that come dressed in yukata get special photo privileges and will receive a free fan during the event.
A limited number of tickets are available at the door for a flat rate of ¥2,600, although an additional admission ticket for Hirakata Park must be purchased (¥2,000 for adults, ¥1,200 for elementary school children and younger). We recommend getting your tickets in advance online through the ticketing website, where the price for a combined event and park admission ticket is ¥4,500 for adults and ¥3,700 for children of elementary school age and younger.
Umeda Tanabata Festival at Umeda Sky Building
July 5–7
Shin Umeda City is back with its annual showcase of ornate and colourful Tanabata decorations from Sendai, the Tohoku city where the Star Festival is a particularly joyous occasion. Sendai’s Tanabata decorations often feature kusudama, or spheres made of paper flowers, atop washi paper streamers up to five metres long. The decorations can be found around Shin Umeda City’s entrance (next to the Umeda Sky Building), as well as along the ‘Showa retro’ shopping street at Takimi Koji.
Customers dining at restaurants in the facility between June 1 and July 7 receive paper strips to write wishes on, which will be hung on bamboo trees displayed within the shopping street. The highlight Tanabata festival takes place during July 5-7 from 4pm to 9pm daily, with the programme including a children’s festival, a wish-writing area for setting wishes afloat on a pond, and live music performances.
Osaka Milky Way Legend 2025
July 7
First held in 2010, the annual Osaka Milky Way Legend takes place from 7pm on the night of Tanabata (July 7) at the Hachikenyahama Pier by Keihan City Mall. The event features colourful floating balls with LED lights called Inori Stars being released onto the Okawa river, creating stunning visuals as it gets dark – and symbolising the Milky Way galaxy in the great expanse of the cosmos.
The release of the Stars into the river takes place in two sessions; at 7.10pm, and again at 8pm. Each admission ticket includes one Star, as well as a slip of paper to write your wish on.
Tickets can be purchased in advance for an early-bird discount, ¥2,000 for adults. For advance ticket purchases, see the website for full details (in Japanese only). Tickets can also be bought at the door for ¥2,500, and children under 4 get in for free.
Looking for more things to do in Osaka? Check out our full list of events here.
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