Summertime in Japan sees huge, extravagant fireworks festivals held nationwide. We have selected 11 of the best fireworks festivals in eastern Japan for you to experience.

These amazing events are very popular, so make sure that you book your hotel early with JAPANiCAN!

Throw on your yukata, grab some delicious festival food, and prepare to be blown away!

Note: Dates and details of each festival are subject to change depending on the weather.
The travel time shown is the shortest available and varies depending on train or trasnportation system being used.

JAPANiCAN Accommodation Tips

To find a hotel place in the immediate vicinity of these famous fireworks displays is very difficult, so a good idea would be to stay somewhere in the surrounding area and then do some sightseeing on the following day. Also, given that you will probably be out and about from the evening until late at night, it would be in your best interests to book a hotel that is within walking distance of a station and does not include dinner.

Date: 15 August 2008, 19:00 - 21:00
Place: Lakeside at Lake Suwa, Suwa City, Nagano

One of Japan's best-loved fireworks festivals: 40,000 shells are set-off over Lake Suwa. Stupendous "Starmine" bursts and an unbelievable two-kilometer-long "Niagara" brightens up the sky, to the delight of cheering spectators.

Photo: Nagano Prefectural Tourism Association

JAPANiCAN Accommodation Tips

The hot spring resorts of Shimosuwa Onsen and Kamisuwa Onsen are located in the immediate vicinity of Suwa's Fireworks Display. Although we would like to recommend these as places to stay, given that the fireworks display falls exactly on the day of Japan's Obon Festival, they will be extremely busy.

Therefore, we recommend that you stay at either a hotel within Matsumoto City or at a ryokan in the Utsukushigahara Onsen or Asama Onsen area: all reachable within 30 minutes via JR Chuo Line train from Kamisuwa Station (the nearest station to the fireworks display). There will be special train services running on the day of the fireworks display.

Date: 2 August 2008, 19:40 - 20:30
Place: Karasugawa Wada Bridge Riverside, Takasaki City, Gunma

Kicking off the Takasaki Festival, 15,000 rockets, flares, starbursts and much more explode in heart-pounding, rapid-fire bursts in just one blazing hour. View this spectacular show from the vantage point of Mt. Takasaki-Kannon.

JAPANiCAN Accommodation Tips

The accommodation closest to the Takasaki fireworks display is located within Takasaki City. With the amount of accommodation in the city being limited, we recommend that if you can, you stay at Ikaho Onsen, one hour's drive from Takasaki.

Otherwise, once the fireworks display is over, you could return to Tokyo via Joetsu Shinkansen, which stops at Tokyo Station and Ueno Station. We then recommend that you stay somewhere in the vicinity of those stations (i.e. Ueno/Asakusa or the Tokyo Station/Ginza area).

Date: 25, 28 July; 5, 8, 17, 21, 24 August; 15 September 2008, 20:20 - 20:50
Place: Atami Bay, Atami City, Shizuoka

Visitors can enjoy 5,000 fireworks during this dynamic pyrotechnic celebration. Atami City is justly famed for its medicinal, health promoting hot-springs. Visitors can enjoy evening fireworks shows as well as relaxing onsen.

Photo: (c)　JNTO

JAPANiCAN Accommodation Tips

Atami is a leading Japanese onsen resort and has many famous onsen ryokan, meaning that if you book early it should be relatively easy to find a room.

Otherwise, once the fireworks display is over, another good option would be to take either the JR line or the Izu Kyuko Express line train to Ito Onsen or Izu Atagawa Onsen and stay there. As the fireworks display will end at quite a late hour, you may want to try and find somewhere not too far from the station.

Also, seeing as Atami is only 50 minutes from Tokyo by Shinkansen, you could take the Shinkansen to Tokyo or Shin Yokohama and stay at a hotel nearby one of those stations.

Date: 20 July 2008, 19:30 - 20:40 (TBC)
Place: In front of Yamashita Park, Yokohama City, Kanagawa

This splendid fireworks display marks the conclusion of the annually held Kaikoukinen Minato Festival. This festival commemorates the opening of Yokohama City port to foreign ships for the purpose of international trade beginning 2 May 1859.

JAPANiCAN Accommodation Tips

Although it would be best to stay at a hotel within Yokohama City, the day of the fireworks is expected to attract many visitors. Therefore, you could take the Blue Line subway train from Kannai Station to Shin Yokohama Station 15 minutes away and stay there, or take the JR Keihin Tohoku line and stay in either the Shinagawa, Tokyo, or Ueno station area.

Date: 26 July 2008, 19:10 - 20:30
Place 1: Between Sakura-bashi and Kototoi-bashi, Sumida-ku, Tokyo
Place 2: Between Komagata-bashi and Umaya-bashi, Taito-ku, Tokyo

This festival has a massive 20,000 fireworks; the largest number of any display in Tokyo. The size of the fireworks that can be used is restricted by the narrowness of the Sumida River and the surrounding tall buildings. Therefore, the pyrotechnicians have taken this fact into consideration and used all their skill in creating a thrilling and beautiful display using numerous smaller fireworks.

Photo: (c)　JNTO

JAPANiCAN Accommodation Tips

We recommend that you stay within the Tokyo metropolitan area. Seeing as hotels in the Asakusa/Ueno area will be especially busy, we recommend that you take the JR Sobu line or Yamanote line and stay in the Tokyo, Shinjuku or Ikebukuro station area.

Date: 2, 3 August 2008, 19:25 - 21:30
Place: Shinano Riverside, Nagaoka City, Niigata

One of the three biggest Japanese fireworks displays.
This festival sees a total of 20,000 fireworks being set off over the two days. The Nagaoka Fireworks Festival is increasing in scope every year, meaning that spectators can expect ever more impressive fireworks illuminating the night sky.

JAPANiCAN Accommodation Tips

As there are few places to stay within Nagaoka City, accommodation will be very crowded. Once the fireworks are over, you could take the Joetsu Shinkansen from JR Nagaoka Station to Shin Niigata Station and stay in Niigata for the night. Another option we recommend would be to take the Joetsu Shinkansen to Echigo Yuzawa Station and stay at a ryokan in the Echigo Yuzawa area.

Date: 9, 10 September 2008, 19:30 - 22:20
Place: Behind Asahara Shrine, Katakai-machi, Ojiya City, Niigata

The biggest fireworks (a stunning 800m in radius) in the world, according to the authoritative Guinness Book of Records, illuminate the entire sky on each night. Interestingly, sponsors are local people wishing for their family's health, longevity, happiness and other desirable things.

Photo: Ojiya Tourism Association

JAPANiCAN Accommodation Tips

The location for this fireworks display is relatively out-of-the-way and is not well served with accommodation options. If you are coming from Niigata or Tokyo, the best way to get to see the fireworks would be to take a highway bus to the Ojiya Interchange on the Kanetsu Expressway and then take the (charged) shuttle bus. The best option for accommodation, therefore, would be Niigata City.

Date: 4 October 2008, 18:00 - 20:30
Place: Sakura Riverside, Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki

An important competition that has been bringing together 50 fireworks makers since 1925. This event is known as a trade fair because many brokers and buyers observe what's new and spectacular. There is a great deal of negotiation done afterwards as buyers from all over Japan order what they particularly liked for their own summer fireworks.

Photo: Ibaraki Pref. Tuschiura City Public Relation Section

JAPANiCAN Accommodation Tips

As accommodation within Tsuchiura City is limited, it might be worth taking the JR Joban Line and staying in Tokyo. We recommend staying somewhere not too far from one of the stations at the end of the Joban Line (e.g. the area around Ueno Station, Tokyo Station or Ginza Station).

Another option would be to take the 30-minute trip by Kanto Tetsudo (Kantetsu) Bus to Tsukuba Science City, where there are a number of hotels. You can then use this as a base to explore Mt. Tsukuba the next day. It's then an easy 45-minute trip back to Akihabara in Tokyo via Tsukuba Express train.

Date: 2 August 2008, 19:00 - 20:30
Place: Aqua Marine Park, Iwaki City, Fukushima

Iwaki Port Festival's fireworks display consists of three segments: a professional pyrotechnic competition; a celebratory competition for amateur enthusiasts; and an innovative fireworks display set to music. The grand finale includes 22 huge 'shakudama' shells exploding in awesome grandeur.

JAPANiCAN Accommodation Tips

We recommend that you stay in the Yumoto area, which is reachable by 10-minute train ride on the Joban Line from Onohama's Izumi Station. There you will find onsen ryokan and resort accommodation.

Otherwise, you could take a 15-minute ride on the Joban Line to JR Iwaki Station, where you can find many business hotels.

Date: 17 August 2008, 19:10 - 20:30
Place: Around Matsushima Bay, Matsushima Town, Matsushima County, Miyagi

This traditional event is well-known for the multitudes of lanterns that have been floated on the area's rivers, lakes and seas over the past 700 years. During the Obon Festival, people send off their ancestors' spirits and wish them a good journey by lighting colorful lanterns on placing them on the local waters. The combination of fireworks and lanterns is at once a gorgeous and a spiritual sight.

JAPANiCAN Accommodation Tips

We recommend that you book your accommodation in the Matsushima-Kaigan area, which has many ryokan, but it is expected that all rooms will be full on the day of the fireworks.

Therefore, another good option would be to take a JR Senseki Line train from Matsushima Kaigan Station to either Sendai Station or Aoba-dori Station and stay at a hotel within Sendai City.

Date: 23 August 2008, 18:50 - 21:40
Place: Omono Riverside, Daisen City, Akita

One of the top firework-maker competitions in Japan. People come from all over Japan to view the huge, breath-taking fireworks. Only Japan's 30 best firework makers are entitled to participate in the competition to show their fireworks, lovingly created using all the magic they could muster.

JAPANiCAN Accommodation Tips

As there are very few places to stay within Omagari City, the best option we can recommend would be to book a room at a hotel or ryokan in Akita City. You can get to Akita City via either JR Akita Shinkansen or Ou Main Line train. (Travel time 30-60 minutes.)

Or you could also take the Akita Shinkansen to Morioka City and stay there.

Special train services will be running on the day of the fireworks display on the Omagari-Akita and Omagari-Morioka train routes.

Information regarding festival details based on text from infomapJAPAN website.