Yosakoi dance festival in western Japan

Yosakoi dance festival in western Japan

Dancers perform during the Yosakoi dance festival on Aug. 10, 2026, in Kochi, western Japan. About 18,000 people from 197 teams plan to dance during the annual event that began in 1954, running through Aug. 12.

Yosakoi dance festival in western Japan

Yosakoi dance festival in western Japan

Dancers perform during the Yosakoi dance festival on Aug. 10, 2026, in Kochi, western Japan. About 18,000 people from 197 teams plan to dance during the annual event that began in 1954, running through Aug. 12.

Yosakoi dance festival in western Japan

Yosakoi dance festival in western Japan

Dancers perform during the Yosakoi dance festival on Aug. 10, 2026, in Kochi, western Japan. About 18,000 people from 197 teams plan to dance during the annual event that began in 1954, running through Aug. 12.

Yosakoi dance festival in western Japan

Yosakoi dance festival in western Japan

Dancers perform on the eve of the Yosakoi dance festival on Aug. 9, 2026, in Kochi, western Japan.

Yosakoi dance festival in western Japan

Yosakoi dance festival in western Japan

Dancers perform on the eve of the Yosakoi dance festival on Aug. 9, 2026, in Kochi, western Japan.

Yosakoi dance festival in western Japan

Yosakoi dance festival in western Japan

Dancers perform on the eve of the Yosakoi dance festival on Aug. 9, 2026, in Kochi, western Japan.

Tanabata festival in Sendai

Tanabata festival in Sendai

Colorful streamers decorate a shopping arcade in Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 6, 2026, as the annual Sendai Tanabata Festival begins for a three-day run.

Tanabata festival in Sendai

Tanabata festival in Sendai

Colorful streamers decorate a shopping arcade in Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 6, 2026, as the annual Sendai Tanabata Festival begins for a three-day run.

Tanabata festival in Sendai

Tanabata festival in Sendai

Colorful streamers decorate a shopping arcade in Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 6, 2026, as the annual Sendai Tanabata Festival begins for a three-day run.

Tanabata festival in Sendai

Tanabata festival in Sendai

Colorful streamers decorate a shopping arcade in Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 6, 2026, as the annual Sendai Tanabata Festival begins for a three-day run.

Tanabata festival in Sendai

Tanabata festival in Sendai

Colorful streamers decorate a shopping arcade in Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 6, 2026, as the annual Sendai Tanabata Festival begins for a three-day run.

Tanabata festival in Sendai

Tanabata festival in Sendai

Colorful streamers decorate a shopping arcade in Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 6, 2026, as the annual Sendai Tanabata Festival begins for a three-day run.

Dance festival in northeastern Japan

Dance festival in northeastern Japan

Dancers wave hats adorned with orange safflowers in a parade at the traditional Yamagata Hanagasa Festival on Aug. 5, 2026, in Yamagata, northeastern Japan.

Dance festival in northeastern Japan

Dance festival in northeastern Japan

Dancers wave hats adorned with orange safflowers in a parade at the traditional Yamagata Hanagasa Festival on Aug. 5, 2026, in Yamagata, northeastern Japan.

Dance festival in northeastern Japan

Dance festival in northeastern Japan

Dancers wave hats adorned with orange safflowers in a parade at the traditional Yamagata Hanagasa Festival on Aug. 5, 2026, in Yamagata, northeastern Japan.

Dance festival in northeastern Japan

Dance festival in northeastern Japan

Dancers wave hats adorned with orange safflowers in a parade at the traditional Yamagata Hanagasa Festival on Aug. 5, 2026, in Yamagata, northeastern Japan.

Dance festival in northeastern Japan

Dance festival in northeastern Japan

Dancers wave hats adorned with orange safflowers in a parade at the traditional Yamagata Hanagasa Festival on Aug. 5, 2026, in Yamagata, northeastern Japan.

Japan: Performers Balance Towering Lanterns at Akita Kanto Festival

The Akita Kanto Festival, one of the three major festivals in Japan's Tohoku region with roughly 270 years of history, opened Sunday, August 2, in central Akita City and runs through August 6. This year's event features 67 groups—38 neighborhood teams and 29 school and workplace teams—swaying 273 lantern-laden bamboo poles through the night sky in a prayer for a bountiful harvest, the poles representing rice stalks. The largest of the poles measure up to 12 meters long and weigh 50 kilograms, balanced skillfully by performers on their foreheads, palms, and other parts of the body.

Japan: Nagaoka Fireworks Festival Lights Up Sky With 20,000 Shells 5

The Nagaoka Fireworks Festival, one of Japan's three major fireworks displays, was held on Sunday and Monday, August 2 and 3, along the Shinano River in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture. The two-day event featured about 20,000 fireworks, including large traditional shells that bloomed into flowers roughly 650 meters wide.

Japan: Nagaoka Fireworks Festival Lights Up Sky With 20,000 Shells 4

The Nagaoka Fireworks Festival, one of Japan's three major fireworks displays, was held on Sunday and Monday, August 2 and 3, along the Shinano River in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture. The two-day event featured about 20,000 fireworks, including large traditional shells that bloomed into flowers roughly 650 meters wide.

Japan: Nagaoka Fireworks Festival Lights Up Sky With 20,000 Shells

The Nagaoka Fireworks Festival, one of Japan's three major fireworks displays, was held on Sunday and Monday, August 2 and 3, along the Shinano River in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture. The two-day event featured about 20,000 fireworks, including large traditional shells that bloomed into flowers roughly 650 meters wide.

Japan: Nagaoka Fireworks Festival Lights Up Sky With 20,000 Shells 3

The Nagaoka Fireworks Festival, one of Japan's three major fireworks displays, was held on Sunday and Monday, August 2 and 3, along the Shinano River in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture. The two-day event featured about 20,000 fireworks, including large traditional shells that bloomed into flowers roughly 650 meters wide.

Japan: Nagaoka Fireworks Festival Lights Up Sky With 20,000 Shells 2

The Nagaoka Fireworks Festival, one of Japan's three major fireworks displays, was held on Sunday and Monday, August 2 and 3, along the Shinano River in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture. The two-day event featured about 20,000 fireworks, including large traditional shells that bloomed into flowers roughly 650 meters wide.

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

Doll-like lanterns each more than 20 meters tall are paraded on the opening day of the five-day Goshogawara Tachi Neputa festival in the northeastern Japan city of Goshogawara, Aomori Prefecture, on Aug. 4, 2026.

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

A doll-like lantern more than 20 meters tall is paraded on the opening day of the five-day Goshogawara Tachi Neputa festival in the northeastern Japan city of Goshogawara, Aomori Prefecture, on Aug. 4, 2026.

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

Doll-like lanterns each more than 20 meters tall are paraded on the opening day of the five-day Goshogawara Tachi Neputa festival in the northeastern Japan city of Goshogawara, Aomori Prefecture, on Aug. 4, 2026.

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

Doll-like lanterns each more than 20 meters tall are paraded on the opening day of the five-day Goshogawara Tachi Neputa festival in the northeastern Japan city of Goshogawara, Aomori Prefecture, on Aug. 4, 2026.

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

Doll-like lanterns each more than 20 meters tall are paraded on the opening day of the five-day Goshogawara Tachi Neputa festival in the northeastern Japan city of Goshogawara, Aomori Prefecture, on Aug. 4, 2026.

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

A doll-like lantern more than 20 meters tall is paraded on the opening day of the five-day Goshogawara Tachi Neputa festival in the northeastern Japan city of Goshogawara, Aomori Prefecture, on Aug. 4, 2026.

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

Doll-like lantern parade in northeastern Japan

A doll-like lantern more than 20 meters tall is paraded on the opening day of the five-day Goshogawara Tachi Neputa festival in the northeastern Japan city of Goshogawara, Aomori Prefecture, on Aug. 4, 2026.

Kanto Festival in northeastern Japan

Kanto Festival in northeastern Japan

Participants hold bamboo poles adorned with paper lanterns, resembling ears of rice, in the northeastern Japan city of Akita on Aug. 3, 2026, the opening day of the four-day Kanto Festival.

Kanto Festival in northeastern Japan

Kanto Festival in northeastern Japan

Participants hold bamboo poles adorned with paper lanterns, resembling ears of rice, in the northeastern Japan city of Akita on Aug. 3, 2026, the opening day of the four-day Kanto Festival.

Kanto Festival in northeastern Japan

Kanto Festival in northeastern Japan

Paper lanterns hanging on bamboo poles light up the northeastern Japan city of Akita on Aug. 3, 2026, the opening day of the four-day Kanto Festival.

Kanto Festival in northeastern Japan

Kanto Festival in northeastern Japan

Paper lanterns hanging on bamboo poles light up the northeastern Japan city of Akita on Aug. 3, 2026, the opening day of the four-day Kanto Festival.

Kanto Festival in northeastern Japan

Kanto Festival in northeastern Japan

Paper lanterns hanging on bamboo poles light up the northeastern Japan city of Akita on Aug. 3, 2026, the opening day of the four-day Kanto Festival.

Kanto Festival in northeastern Japan

Kanto Festival in northeastern Japan

Participants hold bamboo poles adorned with paper lanterns, resembling ears of rice, in the northeastern Japan city of Akita on Aug. 3, 2026, the opening day of the four-day Kanto Festival.

Aomori Nebuta Festival in northeastern Japan

Aomori Nebuta Festival in northeastern Japan

Colorful lantern floats are paraded through the streets of the northeastern Japan city of Aomori on Aug. 2, 2026, the first day of the six-day Aomori Nebuta Festival.

Aomori Nebuta Festival in northeastern Japan

Aomori Nebuta Festival in northeastern Japan

A colorful lantern float is paraded through the streets of the northeastern Japan city of Aomori on Aug. 2, 2026, the first day of the six-day Aomori Nebuta Festival.

Aomori Nebuta Festival in northeastern Japan

Aomori Nebuta Festival in northeastern Japan

A colorful lantern float is paraded through the streets of the northeastern Japan city of Aomori on Aug. 2, 2026, the first day of the six-day Aomori Nebuta Festival.

Fireworks festival in Niigata

Fireworks festival in Niigata

Fireworks light up the night sky in Nagaoka in Niigata Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, on Aug. 2, 2026, during one of the three largest fireworks festivals in Japan.

Aomori Nebuta Festival in northeastern Japan

Aomori Nebuta Festival in northeastern Japan

Dancers parade through the streets of the northeastern Japan city of Aomori with colorful lantern floats on Aug. 2, 2026, the first day of the six-day Aomori Nebuta Festival.

Fireworks festival in Niigata

Fireworks festival in Niigata

Fireworks light up the night sky in Nagaoka in Niigata Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, on Aug. 2, 2026, during one of the three largest fireworks festivals in Japan.

Fireworks festival in Niigata

Fireworks festival in Niigata

Fireworks light up the night sky in Nagaoka in Niigata Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, on Aug. 2, 2026, during one of the three largest fireworks festivals in Japan.

Fireworks festival in Niigata

Fireworks festival in Niigata

Fireworks light up the night sky in Nagaoka in Niigata Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, on Aug. 2, 2026, during one of the three largest fireworks festivals in Japan.

Traditional dance parade in northeastern Japan

Traditional dance parade in northeastern Japan

Performers march through the streets on the opening day of the Morioka Sansa dance festival in Morioka in Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 1, 2026. About 26,600 people are expected to take part in the four-day event.

Traditional dance parade in northeastern Japan

Traditional dance parade in northeastern Japan

Performers march through the streets on the opening day of the Morioka Sansa dance festival in Morioka in Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 1, 2026. About 26,600 people are expected to take part in the four-day event.

Traditional dance parade in northeastern Japan

Traditional dance parade in northeastern Japan

Performers march through the streets on the opening day of the Morioka Sansa dance festival in Morioka in Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 1, 2026. About 26,600 people are expected to take part in the four-day event.

Traditional dance parade in northeastern Japan

Traditional dance parade in northeastern Japan

Performers march through the streets on the opening day of the Morioka Sansa dance festival in Morioka in Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 1, 2026. About 26,600 people are expected to take part in the four-day event.

Traditional dance parade in northeastern Japan

Traditional dance parade in northeastern Japan

Performers march through the streets on the opening day of the Morioka Sansa dance festival in Morioka in Iwate Prefecture, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 1, 2026. About 26,600 people are expected to take part in the four-day event.

Ainu festival in New York

NEW YORK, United States, July 23 Kyodo - Participants try playing the traditional Ainu mouth harp known as the mukkuri with the help of performers from the Ainu indigenous community in Hokkaido, northern Japan, during a festival introducing Ainu culture in New York, on July 22, 2026. (Kyodo)