19 best summer festivals in Tokyo 2024: fireworks, Bon Odori, sunflowers and more

Put on a yukata and head over to Sunshine City’s 45th Bon Odori dance festival. The lively outdoor event, which is accompanied by invigorating taiko drum beats, takes place around a six metre-tall yagura turret decorated with colourful festive lanterns. 

Inexperienced participants can simply copy the moves of the professionals who’re dancing at the top of the turret. The night will feature various traditional dances, including the Tokyo Ondo and Otsuka Monogatari Ondo, and early birds will receive a free tenugui (traditional cotton handkerchief).

There will be food and entertainment stalls this year, where you can enjoy traditional Japanese festival grub and games like shateki shooting and superball fishing for free. The event takes place from 7pm to 9.15pm at Sunshine Hiroba, which is on the rooftop of Sunshine City's Alpa shopping mall.

In the event of rain, the event will be cancelled.

Summer in Tokyo is defined by festivals and one of the most spectacular is the Bon Odori dance, which takes place in several neighbourhoods across the city. Originally a way to honour the spirits of the dead, Bon Odori is now a fun, engaging family-friendly affair.

The celebration at Tsukiji Hongwanji from July 31 to August 3 is one of Tokyo’s most popular Bon Odori festivals. So don a yukata and join in the dancing crowd circling the yagura stage from 7pm to 9pm (6pm to 8.30pm on Saturday).

Not to worry if you don’t know the steps – just mimic the dance moves of the locals next to you. The festival is also famous for its delectable food selection, so go early and dance up an appetite for a feast.

Taking advantage of a serendipitous schedule clash, Itabashi's annual fireworks display takes place at the same time as the one in Toda City (Saitama prefecture), just across the Arakawa River. This year, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the nearby Arakawa flood bypass, the organisers are pulling out all the stops to make this fireworks show the biggest in its history.

You can expect a combined 15,000 shells of fireworks at this 90-minute event. On show are various styles of pyrotechnics, including an enormous star mine and the spectacular ‘Niagara Falls’, a 700-metre chain of explosions that always draws the biggest cheers of the night. As a special treat this year, there will be giant Poké Ball and Captain Pikachu-themed fireworks, too.

While the event is free, you might want to secure a paid seat for the best views. These reserved seats range from ¥4,500 to ¥6,000 for single tickets and ¥18,000 to ¥36,000 for groups of four to eight people. You can make your bookings online. 

Before you go, we recommend you check out the venue map and access information on the event website. 

Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum is staying open until 8.30pm for just two days on August 3 and 4. You’ll get to experience a Showa-style summer festival at this nostalgic attraction filled with historical and heritage buildings. 

While details have yet to be announced for 2024, the summer festival last year had a mikoshi (portable shrine) parade for kids to participate in and fun games like target shooting and yo-yo fishing. Adults, on the other hand, could enjoy live musical performances of bamboo instruments by Tokyo Takutakedan and watch a demonstration of how Edo Kiriko glass is made. 

Parts of the museum grounds will be lit up, with a few of the buildings operating as shops selling drinks, retro stationery and flowers. There will also be plenty of food trucks to keep you satiated throughout the night, including a dagashi vendor offering old-school Japanese snacks.

Bon Odori is a traditional summer dance festival held during Obon, a Buddhist custom to commemorate one's ancestors. This particular festival, one of the biggest in Tokyo, will be held right outside Nakano Station. 

Unlike most Bon Odori festivities in Tokyo which take place in the early evening, this Nakano event has an early start at around 10am with a series of music and dance performances. However, the main attraction only begins at 4pm, featuring celebrity guests and DJs playing J-pop tunes.

You can expect a good workout dancing to invigorating tracks from spinners including DJ Koo and DJ Celly. But what we are really looking forward to is to match Bon Odori dance steps to classic hits from Bon Jovi, who have endorsed the use of their songs at the festival.

Everyone is welcome to join in the Nakano Bon Odori Festival and it’s free.

Nakameguro is celebrating summer with a lively Awa Odori and Yosakoi dance performance over the August 3-4 weekend. The annual festival has been running for over 50 years now and attracts a crowd of around 26,000 people every year.

Come Saturday you’ll see around 700 dancers from 21 Awa Odori dance groups parading on the streets. Sunday, on the other hand, gathers about 600 Yosakoi dancers from 29 groups. The festival runs from 5.30pm to 8.30pm on both days.

Many restaurants and cafés in the area will have stalls set up outside offering takeout food and drinks for you to enjoy while watching the performances.

Featuring 100,000 bright yellow himawari, the Kiyose Sunflower Festival is the closest a Tokyoite can get to frolicking through a flower field in August. Located an express train ride from Ikebukuro, the festival is known for its colourful flowers that contrast with the bright post-rainy season blue sky.

This large-scale sunflower field, roughly 24,000 square meters in size, is used every summer by local farmers to grow sunflowers as a natural fertilizer for agricultural produce. Take in the spectacular scenery of towering sunflowers while supporting local farmers by purchasing fresh local vegetables and cut flowers sold at the venue.

To avoid congestion at the venue, online reservations are required in advance for four days from August 10 to August 13.

Free shuttle bus services connecting Kiyose Station and the venue will be available from 8.30am to 4.30pm. For more details, check the event website.

Yukata-clad spectators crowd the streets of Harajuku and Aoyama during the mesmerising Jingu Gaien Fireworks Festival, a display that ranks as one of Tokyo's top summer festivals. Now in its 43rd year, this edition of the event will boast 10,000 shells of fireworks.

The cluster of sports stadiums to the south of Sendagaya Station offer the best vantage points, with paid seating available at Meiji Jingu Stadium and Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium. Check out the ticketing details here.

Alternatively, just wander around the surrounding area until you find somewhere you can see the action for free. The fireworks display lasts for one hour from 7.30pm to 8.30pm.

In case of stormy weather, the festival will be postponed to August 11.

Kanda Shrine’s Noryo Matsuri takes place over four days in August. The all-encompassing summer fest is set to feature everything from Bon Odori dancing to the obligatory matsuri grub and even a small beer and sake fest which starts a day earlier on August 8.

During the Bon Odori session on Friday (5pm-9pm), you can dance to popular anime songs, while the ones over the weekend feature Kanda Shrine’s original song ‘Kanda Myojin Ondo’. The organisers uploaded a practice video to its YouTube channel, so make sure to learn the steps before heading over. The festival ends at 9pm on all four days.

Bon Odori Dances will not be held on Thursday, August 8.

The amazing Koenji Awa-Odori street dance festival is back for the 65th time on August 24-25, 2024

One of the most popular street dance festivals in Tokyo, Koenji's Awa-Odori is returning this summer in full swing. This year, the celebration will feature over 150 Awa-Odori dance groups parading around Koenji Station’s North-South shotengai shopping arcade and Konan-dori street over the August 24-25 weekend. 

The tradition of Awa-Odori can be traced back to Tokushima in Shikoku. Legend has it that the local daimyo plied his citizens with booze to celebrate the completion of the local castle in 1586, leading to a citywide outbreak of dancing in the streets. Whatever the accuracy of that tale, the enthusiasm was contagious, and Koenji has been holding a street dance fest of its own since 1957.

While the action starts at 5pm, you'll need to arrive much earlier if you want to snag one of the best viewing spots along the two streets mentioned above.

This lively Roppongi Hills event features traditional Bon Odori dance by yukata-clad performers in a purpose-built arena. So put on your favourite yukata and feel free to join in. 

Traditional Japanese lanterns add to the festive atmosphere while the surrounding food stalls cater to hungry crowds. You can expect a varied gourmet selection prepared by popular restaurants in the area, including 37 Steakhouse and Bar, Diya, Rigoletto Bar and Grill, Grand Hyatt Tokyo, Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse, and more. There will also be plenty of activities like yo-yo fishing, ring tossing, and a face mask stall for both children and adults to enjoy.

While there's no Bon Odori dancing on Friday, you’ll get to watch a modern interpretation of Gigaku (masked drama performance) and Dengaku (traditional Japanese dance) instead. The shows are put on by Roppongi Raku, the venue’s performing arts group that consists of about 150 people, starting at 7pm. 

Enjoy a dazzling display of lanterns floating in the night sky at Machida City’s inaugural lantern festival. The Summer Night Sky Festival is held for three days from August 30 to September 1. Entry tickets start from ¥5,480 and they each come with a modern sky lantern for you to release into the night sky. The lanterns feature LED bulbs instead of the traditional candle to prevent them from being a fire hazard. 

There’s a host of open-air food stalls alongside a marketplace to recreate a nostalgic atmosphere reminiscent of Japanese traditional summertime. The highlight is, of course, the lantern release, which is set for 7.30pm. The organisers expect to feature around 3,000 each day.

Tickets are now available online.

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