The Best Japanese Festivals & Events On the Web

New Years Oshogatsu Festivals in the United States
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2025 Buddhist Temple of Marin Obon Service and Odori Celebration Event
2025 Nisei Week Ondo Dance Practice: JACCC Plaza, Little Tokyo, LA (Everyone Welcome to Dance or Watch) Tue/Thu
2025 Arizona Obon Festival Event & Odori Dancing, Live Taiko (Obon Festival a Gathering of Joy) Saturday - Arizona Buddhist Temple
2025 Mountain View Obon and Bazaar Festival (Bon Odori Dancing, Taiko, Food, Entertainment, Games, Exhibits..) Mountain View Buddhist Temple (2 Days)
2025: 76th Annual Monterey Obon Festival (Bon Odori, Japanese Food, Entertainment, Ikebana Exhibits, Games, Crafts..) Sunday Only
2025 Orange County Summer Obon Festival Event (Bon Odori, Taiko, Japanese Food, Games, Crafts..) OCBC (2 Days) Orange County Buddhist Church
2025 West Los Angeles Obon Festival (Bon Odori, Live Taiko, Japanese Food, Games..) WLA Buddhist Temple Obon (2 Days) Sawtelle, Japantown
2025 Senshin Buddhist Temple Obon Odori Festival Event (Bon Odori Dancing, Sento Shogon 1000 Oil Lamps, Taiko Entertainment..) Saturday Only
2025 Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Temple Annual Obon Festival (Bon Odori Dancing, Japanese Food, Dango, Games, Auction, Special Udon..) VHBT (2 Days)
2025 Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Bon Odori Dance Practice at Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Temple (VHBT)
2024 San Fernando Valley Bon Odori Practice, San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple (Tu/Th)
2025 San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple Obon Festival (Japanese Food, Taiko, Cultural Exhibits, Games, Performances) SFVHBT (2 Days)
2025 Las Vegas Bon Odori Dance Practice: Las Vegas Buddhist Sanga (Saturday)

March 3rd is Girls' Day in Japan, Hinamatsuri: An Ancient Japanese Tradition (Celebrating Dolls) NEW

Date: Tuesday, 3 March, 2026       Time: All Day

The Japanese Doll Festival (Hinamatsuri), or Girls' Day, is held on March 3. Platforms covered with a red carpet are used to display a set of ornamental dolls representing the Emperor, Empress, attendants, and musicians in traditional court dress of the Heian period.

Japanese Doll Customs The custom of displaying dolls began during the Heian period. Formerly, people believed the dolls possessed the power to contain bad spirits. Hinamatsuri traces its origins to an ancient Japanese custom called hina-nagashi ("doll floating"), in which straw hina dolls are set afloat on a boat and sent down a river to the sea, supposedly taking troubles or bad spirits with them. The Shimogamo Shrine (part of the Kamo Shrine complex in Kyoto) celebrates the Nagashibina by floating these dolls between the Takano and Kamo Rivers to pray for the safety of children. People have stopped doing this now because of fishermen catching the dolls in their nets. They now send them out to sea, and when the spectators are gone they take the boats out of the water and bring them back to the temple and burn them.

The customary drink for the festival is shirozake, a sake made from fermented rice. A colored hina-arare, bite-sized crackers flavored with sugar or soy sauce depending on the region, and hishimochi, a diamond-shaped colored rice cake, are served. Chirashizushi (sushi rice flavored with sugar, vinegar, topped with raw fish and a variety of ingredients) is often eaten. A salt-based soup called ushiojiru containing clams still in the shell is also served. Clam shells in food are deemed the symbol of a united and peaceful couple, because a pair of clam shells fits perfectly, and no pair but the original pair can do so. -Wikipedia

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Tuesday, 3 March, 2026



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March 3rd is Girls' Day in Japan, or Hinamatsuri

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