Top 10 Cultural Events in Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanto

To celebrate the vitality that the tabacco industry brings to the region, the Hasano Tabacco Festival takes to the city streets in a parade with auto-mounted floats. Though a contentious subject these days, the parade sees a lot of local gusto, with locals stores and groups creating an eclectic batch of floats, featuring everything from cartoon characters to local produce.

This festival of light and color is known as one of the Kanto region's three largest illumination displays, and is also recognized as "a night view inheritance of Japan." The festival is composed of three different events: "Enoshima Sea Candle Light Up" (end of November to end of January), "Enoshima Winter Tulips" (January) and "Valntine Island Enoshima" (beginning of February to middle of February). 20,000 Tulips emerge amidst illumination that spans an open space of dazzling light. "Shonan no Hoseki" concludes with an art event that uses light balloons and mirror balls to produce a magical atmosphere of illumination.

The "Yokohama Kaikosai" is held every year in June at Minato Mirai to celebrate the opening of Yokohama Port. The festival is visited by approximately 700,000 people every year, and is well-known as a hallmark of early summer in Yokohama. The festival is unique for having an abundance of participatory events, such as dance contests, quiz competitions and the "Dream of Harmony" concert, which brings together members of the general public to sing in a large choir. Stage shows and vendor stalls offering gourmet food from around the world are also something to look forward to. At night, approximately 6,000 fireworks produce a grand finale, in a beautiful harmony of light and sound.

Every year, on the second Sunday in July, the Tennosai festival is held simultaneously at Yasaka Shrine and Koyurugi Shrine. The Tennosai is a storied festival, selected as one of the "Kanagawa Top 50," and drawing many visitors from the prefecture and beyond. After the Shinto rituals, the mikoshi (portable shrine) is paraded down the shrine road to the accompaniment of the "Tenno hayashi" band, and shouted voices rise as it is carried into the sea. Called the "kaijo togyo" (procession across the sea), this is the highlight of the Tennosai festival.

Hamaorisai is a festival held in Chigasaki every July on Marine Day, and is also known as the "Dawn Festival." Starting from Samukawa Shrine and Tsurumine-hachiman Shrine, 38 mikoshi (portable shrines) will set out from 33 local shrines. The most memorable sight of the day comes in the early morning, at the moment when the mikoshi enters the water for the "misogi," or purification ceremony. The mikoshi entering the water to be purified, to hearty shouts of "Dokkoi, dokkoi," is truly a sight to behold.

A plum blossom festival held every year between February and March in Soga no Sato (Soga Bessho), a place known for its roughly 35,000 plum trees. The entire area is blanketed in crimson, pink, and white blossoms, and wrapped in the faint fragrance of plums. A leisurely stroll through the area will take 30-40 minutes, and you will pass multiple photo spots with a view of stands of weeping cherry trees and Mount Fuji. You can enjoy plum-related foods at the nearby cafeterias and food stands, and purchase saplings or other merchandise. On the weekends during the festival period, they also hold events featuring horseback archery, the Kotobuki Lion Dance, folk dancing, taiko drum performances, and more.

A flower festival held in the Yugawaramachi plum grove (Makuyama Park) in Yugawaramachi, Kanagawa prefecture every year from early February to mid-March, when the plum trees bloom. When the roughly 4,000 red- and white-blossomed plum trees on the mountain slope reach full bloom, a beautiful blanket of pink stretches endlessly before you. Various events are held during the festival period, including public performances, hiking in Makuyama, and art-making, and stores open stands selling local specialties like the Yugawaramachi-exclusive "Plum soft-serve," B-class gourmet "Tantan yakisoba," and much more. During "Ume no Utage," you will also be able to enjoy blossom illuminations, which create an ethereal scene, entirely different from the daytime view.

A cherry blossom festival held from late March to early April, centered around Odawara Castle Park-also known as one of the 100 famous Japanese cherry blossom spots-where roughly 320 Yoshino cherry trees are in full bloom. The "Weeping Cherry Tree of Choko-zan Shotai Temple," said to be roughly 340 years old, standing about 13 m tall, with a trunk circumference of roughly 4.7 M, is also not to be missed. The festival period includes attractions like a parade of people dressed in kimono, and a cheerful mood prevails. Paper lanterns are lit in the evening, creating a fantasy scene of cherry trees against the backdrop of the Odawara Castle tower and moat.

This chrysanthemum festival is held every November. The exhibition is set up inside Odawara Castle, featuring an array of about 700 pots of chrysanthemums, grown by people varying from elementary school students to chrysanthemum lovers. Chrysanthemums appear in all sorts of arrangements, from a combination flowerbed with a miniature Odawara Castle decorated with small chrysanthemums, to a cliff with flowers spread across and hanging over it, to a large single bloom display, and more. A chrysanthemum appreciation society also runs a "Chrysanthemum-growing consultation booth" for the duration. The scene of chrysanthemums arrayed against the backdrop of Odawara Castle is one of the distinctive memories you can make of an autumn visit to Odawara.